Emily Walker
Online purchasing is becoming a human behavior these days, almost every item, thing and stuff we buy are online, even buying a puppy.
But, the sad truth is there are some scammers that take your money out of nothing, promising you an adorable cute puppy that you love and then disappear without a trace once you transfer your money.
Before you buy a puppy from a website, make sure to check whether the website is legit. And here are some questions that are mostly asked about a puppy website scam.
FAQ
Yes, you can. The best way to shut down a puppy website is by emailing the registrar since every domain registrar forbids any illegal activities including scams.
Yes, it is safe though you should do more research about the breeder or seller whether it’s legit or scam since there are so many fake puppy websites and scammers.
You can’t decide if the website is a scam at the first glance. You need to check thoroughly using whois and look at their social media, offer, payment method, etc.
Online puppy scams are increasing these days but it doesn’t mean any other pets aren’t. Puppy is a popular pet, that’s why the number of people that get scammed buying a puppy is higher than any other pet.
That’s why you need to be super careful and gather all the information you need before you decide to buy a puppy online
What is a puppy website scam
When you visit an online website for puppies, the scammers typically post adorable and cute puppies with a low price even free of charge with any reasons they can come up with, so you are interested to take the puppy and then trick you into paying the transport, medical insurance, etc, and in the end, the puppy never exists and you lose your money.
Most fake puppy websites are using cute and adorable puppy images that are taken from the internet or someone else’s images.
Puppy scammers are clever, they can build a website that looks real and professional. The reason is to hook and attract your emotion so you will fall in love with the puppy they sell that they don’t possess.
What are the typical signs on a puppy website scam?
If you are looking at the scammer websites and pay attention thoroughly to their content, you’ll find similarities for each website scam. And here are some of the signs.
- Unrealistic price
Most of the scammers offer unrealistic low prices for their puppies by giving you discounts, negotiable prices, even free of charge (you only pay for the shipping). This is because they want to grab your attention with an affordable low price puppy.
- No refunds and warranties
Most reliable breeders are confident with the puppy they sell since they are responsible for the puppy and can tell you the pedigree of the dog, health history and more with the detail. They are also willing to help you and accept a full refund.
The fake and scammers won’t do the same. Sometimes they offer you a refund upon receipt, but it’s only to hook you. Once you take the bait, they will ask extra fees by saying that you might lose a chance to get your puppy, or worse they blackmail you by claiming to report to the authorities for animal abuse.
- Using fake email address on the website
Most puppy website scammers are using fake email addresses. You can check using whois and see the details of the website’s owner. The website scammers will use fake email addresses, the name of the company, etc.
How to Shutdown a puppy website scam?
When you find a scam website that sells a puppy and you are sure that website is a scammer after checking about it, you can email their domain registrar. You can find the domain registrar by checking their website on whois.
If you don’t know what an email registrar is, according to Wikipedia: is an organization or commercial entity that manages the reservation of Internet domain names. A domain name registrar must be accredited by a generic top-level domain (gTLD) registry and/or a country code top-level domain (ccTLD) registry. The management is done in accordance with the guidelines of the designated domain name registries.
All domain registrar has terms and conditions which forbid any illegal content and activity. It is the best way to shut down a puppy website scam.
Once you found their domain registrar (normally their email address like: [email protected]) you can send them an email and report that a website has broken the policy by doing an illegal activity or scamming.
You can also report about the puppy website scam on:
- BBB’s Scam Tracker
- Petscams.com
- Federal Trade Commission (or call 1-877-FTC-HELP)
- State Attorney General
Conclusion
When buying things online becomes a norm, there are some people who take this chance to take people’s money out of nothing, including pet scams.
There have been so many victims that have lost hundreds and thousands of dollars to get the puppy they love, but the puppy never comes, only their money goes to waste instead. And the puppy scam cases have increased over the years according to the puppy scam statistics.
If you have encountered a puppy website scam, make sure to shut it down by email the domain registrar, or at least report it to the website listed above. That way you can save people from getting scammed.