Advice needed RE possible puppy scam!

jaibaby

My OHs grandparents are looking to buy a Pug puppy and after spending a few hours online looking, found what seemed to be an ideal puppy. So I emailed the advertiser (as they are not very internet-savvy) and we soon received a reply, which is as follows;

Hello ,
I am so happy to read from you and want to thank you very much for
your interest in my puppies.These puppies are U KC registered,vet
checked and current on all their shots and vaccinations.They are potty
trained,house trained and crate trained with a very good temperament
with cats,dogs and other pets and animals and kids as well.

They are 11 weeks old,micro chipped and will come along with their
puppy crate,feeding manual.as well as toys ,food and all their vet and
health guarantee papers.I am currently located with these puppies in
Belfast,Ireland,where i just relocated to attend my mother's
funeral.My mother died some couple of days ago,so i am here in Belfast
to make all the necessary preparations for her funeral arrangements
and the burial proper which is due to take place in the forth coming
days.

I will want you to know that what i am interested most is a loving and
caring home for these babies,where they will be loved for and taken
good care of and treated like prince and princess and as such money is
not my prime concern here.I will like to know if you are interested in
getting the male or the female puppy?since i am going to personally
make all proper preparations for the delivery of the baby to your
house address.

I will also like you to know that it is going to cost you just the sum
of 150 Pounds for you to get one baby and this will include the
processing of the vet and health papers of the baby to your names,the
transfer of ownership paper to your names,since you will now be the
new owner of the baby,and also for the delivery fee of the baby to
your house address tomorrow morning after the confirmation of the
payment made by the delivery agency.

You will be making the payment of the payment of the 150 Pounds to the
delivery agency who is going to send you a notification email to give
you the payment address and after the confirmation of the payment,they
will send you an email to give you the departure and the arrival time
of the baby to your house address,tomorrow in the morning.

I will like to have the following information from you,which i am
going to use in getting the baby(s) registered at the delivery agency
tomorrow in the morning and these information will be the following:

YOUR FULL NAMES........................
YOUR HOUSE ADDRESS.....................
YOUR CITY..............................
YOUR STATE.............................
YOUR POST CODE.........................
YOUR PHONE NUMBERS(Land-line and Mobile numbers).....................
YOUR NEAREST AIRPORT...................

Those are the above information which i am going to need from you in
order to get the baby you are interested in registered at the
delivery agency to be delivered to your house address tomorrow in the
morning.I have equally attached some updated pictures of both the
female and male puppies in this email for you to have a view of them
all and make your choice.

I will be waiting to read from you as soon as possible.

Thanks and waiting.

Regards.

Sussan Moroson and Nkengzo Mathias Moroson


Now, just from reading the first few lines it's screaming "Scam!" and I know that you should never send money without viewing any animal at home. What I wanted to know is if there is anyway I can report this? I know what to look out for but if my OHs grandparents had read that without me, they would probably be down by the £150 looking forward to a non-existent puppy NOT turning up tomorrow.

And I have heard of other people being scammed with things like this before. So, if anyone has any info of where I can report it to, I would be grateful xxx

krlyr

Might be worth passing this article on to them to read
http://www.bbc.co.uk/watchdog/consumer_advice/latest_pet_air_emp.shtml

Few links at the bottom of the article on where you could report it too as well.

http://www.apdt.co.uk/dog-owners/choosing-a-puppy might be a good read for them

debsy42

Definate Scam, since when are puppies potty trained :rotfl:

Report them to Action Fraud here

scaredy_cat

don't touch it with a barge pole. Any reputable breeder will let you see the puppy with the mother first.

jaibaby

debsy42 wrote: »

Definate Scam, since when are puppies potty trained :rotfl:

Hahaha - I missed that bit! :rotfl:

scaredy_cat wrote: »

don't touch it with a barge pole. Any reputable breeder will let you see the puppy with the mother first.

Yeah I know hun, just wanted to know where to report them.

Thanks for the help xxx

Fire_Fox

Trading Standards? Not sure if there is anything anyone can do without an actual scam being committed IYSWIM. Please ask the grandparents to choose a breeder vie the breed club, reputable breeders do not use generic small ads.

littlesnuggy

I know you know it's a scam, but in case you/they were interested in the advert because the puppy was £150 you're never going to get a pug (healthy or otherwise) for that. It will be 4 - 5 times that.

Suggest they look for a breeder from the Pug Dog Club (see http://pugdogclub.org.uk/own-a-pug/)

meritaten

I would contact Trading Standards in Belfast. Obvious scam!

kizkiz

Puppy scams are one of the most common, especially on scamtree

hethmar

Definitely a scam. They seem to be using Scotland and Ireland a lot now for some reason.

Report it to gumtree if thats where it was (usual place) and also to trading standards.

aileth

Nkengzo Mathias Moroson, is he also a Nigerian Prince who requires assistance with reclaiming his family treasure? I had one of these when looking up Chihuahua puppies on preloved. Got a response to an email within five minutes and he had 'relocated to Scotland' and it would be £200 for a KC reg chihuahua pup. Yeah right!