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Puppy Scamming
May. 28th, 2011 11:48 pmAn inquiry into what appeared to be a simple ad to rehome some dogs yielded a puppy scam. The breed and names were different and there were some very nice and very stolen pictures of puppies sent along with it. The story did tug my heart, I won't lie, but things were odd - the insistence that 'you and i' pay shipping costs, the poor spelling and grammar, placing an ad from somewhere in Africa to the local papers. Even the email address seemed unprofessional before I asked but the ad appeared to be a local rehoming and people here are notoriously unsavvy about making an email fit for business so it wasn't an immediate dealbreaker.
What really stood out to me was the whole shipping pups from somewhere in Africa. I know the pet import regulations here. This 'next day' delivery thing would simply never happen. I started to wonder exactly what the hell kind of 'Diplomatic Courier Service' could possibly exist that would deliver a dog from an African country the next day and bypass the six months in Government lockup. The first thing to come up was confirmation that this is one shady venture. It's an utterly new one to me.
This makes two efforts into adopting a dog that have gone nowhere. The first wasn't a scam, just not a good fit. I'm tired of this. We've got two adopted dogs so I'm fine with actually buying a third. I'm going straight to a breeder and I'll willingly put down some cash for a pup we can choose in person and raise to fit the family. I'm sure we can remember where we put a certain German Shepherd breeder's number.
What really stood out to me was the whole shipping pups from somewhere in Africa. I know the pet import regulations here. This 'next day' delivery thing would simply never happen. I started to wonder exactly what the hell kind of 'Diplomatic Courier Service' could possibly exist that would deliver a dog from an African country the next day and bypass the six months in Government lockup. The first thing to come up was confirmation that this is one shady venture. It's an utterly new one to me.
This makes two efforts into adopting a dog that have gone nowhere. The first wasn't a scam, just not a good fit. I'm tired of this. We've got two adopted dogs so I'm fine with actually buying a third. I'm going straight to a breeder and I'll willingly put down some cash for a pup we can choose in person and raise to fit the family. I'm sure we can remember where we put a certain German Shepherd breeder's number.
