Tips for Spotting Pet Scams
Price too Low: Pet scammers price their kittens or puppies well below the norm for the breed. They do this to lure buyers in who think they are getting a deal.
Pictures: Most breeders have a certain style to their pictures. When you see lots of different styles, backgrounds, and settings look like different homes. These scams lift pictures from social media and websites of legitimate breeders. Check by doing a reverse image search.
Strange Descriptions: There are often strange descriptions that don’t seem to match the kittens. Some may be listed as the obviously wrong breed, wrong color, or even strange traits. I’ve seen kittens described as “very organized” or “they don’t bark as much.”
Immediate Delivery: A big giveaway is that they promise immediate shipping in cargo. The time it takes to arrange this, health certificates, etc. makes immediate shipping almost impossible. These scammers get the money then often demand extra for things like “insurance”. Some scammers pressure people for more money for insurance than they paid for the cat.
Untraceable Payments: The scammers tend to use untraceable payment methods that cannot be challenged. They will demand payment via Western Union, MoneyGram, CashApp, etc. They won’t allow PayPal, check, or other traceable protected payments.
Plagiarism: Quite often the websites you find for scams might sound legitimate but that’s because they copy legitimate websites. Copy and past some of the text into Google search or Plagiarism Checker and see if they’ve copied their site.
Parents: These sites normally have little to no information on the parents of the available kittens and generally have very little to offer for knowledge of their kittens, the breed, or the parents.
