10 Tips on How to Avoid a Puppy Scam!
Hey, guys, welcome to my blog. Today's article is going to be about buying a dog or a puppy online and what to look out for because sadly, there are a lot of scammers out there and they're just after your money. I did want to mention that I am totally for anyone buying a dog from your local shelter or your rescue or getting a dog from online, but from a responsible breeder.
So if you are looking for a dog online, I do recommend going to your local shelter first and checking out what they have. You never know. They might have exactly what you're looking for. But if you do have your heart set on a specific breed of dog, that would work well for you. And you have already checked your shelter. There's nothing there for you. I am totally for you buying a dog or a puppy online as long as you do your research and make sure you're buying from a responsible breeder.
TIP #1 IS BE AWARE.
By clicking on this article and reading this far, obviously you are already aware somewhat of what's out there, the dangers of buying a puppy online. But I do just want to mention in the very first tip that there are people out there just trying to get your money and they don't even have the dog or the puppy that you're interested in. Most of the time they just steal other people's pictures and act like they have that dog or a puppy. So be aware that scammers are out there and they are just after your money.
TIP #2 IS DON'T FEEL BAD ASKING A LOT OF QUESTIONS.
A real breeder is going to welcome your questions and want you to ask a lot of questions about the dog, because that makes the breeder feel like their puppies are going to somebody who's going to take care of them. Scammers will try to just avoid your questions. Or if you ask a couple of questions, they'll just answer one and try to get you going to keep you on the hook. Scammers don't like you asking a lot of questions. You can ask a couple of questions and then get to the point and let's make a deal or whatever they say. But scammers don't like asking questions and real breeders will be OK no matter if you have one question or 50 questions, don't ever feel bad asking questions, especially when buying a puppy online.
TIP #3 IS TO CALL AND SPEAK WITH THEM.
Scammers like to deal only through texts and emails, and they're not typically going to want to talk. Scammers don't want to talk on the phone, though usually they'll try to do anything they can without having to talk on the phone, whether it's text or email. A scammer that I spoke with, they just wanted to deal through email. And it was a last resort thing that I did call them. A lot of people catch on when people call them because something's often fishy. So if you can get a hold of them, call them especially. Here's a big tip in this. Try to FaceTime them and the puppy, if they say, no, I don't want to call or no, you can't FaceTime or give you any excuse, just run away from that situation. Because if they're not willing to talk on the phone or FaceTime with you and the puppy, that's a big red flag. And I would just stay clear of that whole situation.
TIP #4 IS TO LISTEN TO THE BREEDER OR THE SELLER WHEN YOU DO CALL.
If you are able to get a hold of them, listen to their voice, they should sound like they're from your area. And if they have an accent or if they sound like they're from somewhere else, just be really careful. I'm not saying people with accents are bad or if somebody has an accent, they shouldn't be breeding dogs or anything like that. I believe you should love and respect everyone. But just as a precaution in buying a puppy online, if they say they're from your area, they should sound like they're from your area. If that person doesn't sound like they're from your area or they don't speak your language, you should be careful and very cautious of that.
TIP #5 IS CAREFULLY READ THE TEXTS OR EMAILS THAT THE BREEDERS OR SELLER SENT TO YOU.
It kind of goes along with tip number four. But if they don't use correct grammar, that's a big red flag. You can kind of tell something sounds a little bit off if you're trying to piece together what this person is trying to say or trying to get across to you. But I would definitely put that in the red flag category and not mess with that because it's one thing for a person to mess up on an email or not put in the right word. But if you're trying to piece together the email, you don't really know what they're saying or it doesn't really make sense. It's probably a scam.
TIP #6 IS SCAMMERS USUALLY ASK FOR MONEY PRETTY QUICKLY.
They like to say, “OK, here's the dog and here's what it's about.” And they'll usually ask you, “how are you going to take care of this dog and how can I know it's going to be in a good home?” And real breeders don't ask questions like that. They may say something like, “do you have any other dogs or do you have any experience with dogs or this kind of dog?” But real breeders are not going to ask you, how do I know you're going to take care of this puppy? Scammers will like to use Western Union bank money orders, Wal-Mart cards is what they usually say. And they say we don't accept cash or our cards. Pretty good breeders like to use PayPal to send a deposit to hold the puppy, cash or a personal check, they will accept that, but scammers will not.
TIP #7 IS TO ASK TO SEE THE PUPPY IN PERSON.
I live in Michigan, so let's say there was a scammer in Montana. I would still ask, “hey, can I see this puppy in person?” “Can I fly out in the email he sent?” He does say it's a 16 hour drive from where you live in Michigan. So that was kind of creepy. But so we knew that I wasn't going to drive out there to see it, even if they're far away. Still ask if you can come out and see the puppy. If they say no, you can't come out and see the puppy or give any excuses, don't buy the puppy. You're either buying from a scammer or a puppy mill. And you don't want to deal with either of those because those are both terrible, terrible things.
TIP #8 IS TO RESEARCH THE PRICE.
The average price of the puppy or dog that you're looking at. See how much the average dog of that breed cost. Because the thing goes, if it's too good to be true, it probably is. And that is so true for buying a dog or a puppy online. Scammers love to use this dog is free, just pay shipping or this dog's only one hundred dollars. And you have to cover the plane ticket for me to ship this off to you. That's one of scammer's favorite things to say. The scammer that I was dealing with, he said he was in Chicago and that he just moved to Montana and he just wanted to find the dogs a good home and they're free. I just have to pay the shipping, which is four hundred dollars or the air ticket plane ticket thing, which is four hundred dollars. So it kind of makes you wonder, though, if he really did move to Montana and he really is just looking for a good home for these dogs. He doesn't know me. Why does he list them in his area? So scammers are really. They're really smart. Please make sure you stay away from the people who say we've just moved and this is a really good dog and we're just going to give it to you for free. You just have to be the plane ticket because you're going to pay that plane ticket and you're never going to see that puppy.
TIP #9 IS REALLY IMPORTANT, AND THAT IS TO ASK FOR THE NAME AND NUMBER OF THEIR VET.
Because if they say, well, we just do our own shots and we do everything ourselves, that's totally fine if they do their own shots on the puppies. But they should have an emergency vet for their adult dogs. Adult dogs need rabies shots every year and you can't do that yourself. That's something that a licensed veterinarian has to do. So if they say we don't have a vet or we don't have a name and number two of that, because we do everything ourselves, you do not want to buy a puppy from them. They're either a scammer and trying to take your money or it's a puppy mill and do not want to buy a dog from a puppy mill or from a scammer because you get a dog from a puppy mill that's probably going to be sick. And if you get a dog from a scammer, you won't get a dog from a scammer because they are obviously just scamming you and they don't have a puppy. So you'll just waste your money. And either situation is really bad, so just don't do it. If anything seems off and you're just a little bit suspicious about anything, ask for that. Breeders first and last name and then all that. But if they do give you the name and number two, they're vet and tell whoever you speak with, tell them their first and last name of the breeder and tell them you're interested in buying a puppy from them. But you want to do a little bit of research and make sure that they take care of their dogs and ask, when was the last time they had their dog in? Was it healthy? All those questions are going to be really good questions for you not to get scammed and not to buy a sick puppy.
TIP #10 IS PROBABLY THE BEST TIP I HAVE FOR YOU IN THIS WHOLE VIDEO, AND THAT IS TO ASK FOR MORE PICTURES.
But be specific. One awesome thing to do if you're kind of not sure that it's a scammer or maybe it is real breeder and everything seems right, but you have just that feeling that something's off is ask for more pictures. And the best thing to do is ask the breeder to take a piece of paper and write your first and last name and your phone number on it and then have them take a picture of the puppy from the front view with the piece of paper in behind and then from the side you with that same piece of paper and from behind with that same piece of paper in the background. And usually scammers already have the pictures and they've already sent them to you. So you're going to be able to tell if they've just Photoshopped that picture in there and it's not a new picture. OK, that is it for this video. If you found it helpful at all, give it a thumbs up and let me know in the comments down below. If you've ever been scammed or almost been scammed when buying a puppy or a dog or anything really online, let me know about it. Also hit that subscribe. But if you want to watch more really cool dog and puppy videos, because my next video is going to have a bunch of adorable, cute little puppies.
