Online pet buying is crammed with scams

Buying puppies online can be a dangerous activity.

For many people, the pandemic has been a lonely experience. Because of this, it might be tempting to go on the internet and look for a new animal companion. Whether it is a puppy, kitten or even an exotic bird, animal companions can relieve the stress of spending prolonged periods indoors.

My recent study, however, has found there are thousands of fraudulent pet and shipping websites waiting to scam potential pet owners. These have been created by opportunistic cybercriminals for the sole purpose of defrauding unsuspecting buyers by selling animals which do not exist.

How it works

Luckily, the anatomy of how offenders organise pet scams is fairly simple and there are some early warning signs.

There are usually two stages: a hook and a sting. In the first stage, offenders will seek to build trust with the buyer by using scripted messages which promise pet wellbeing items and after-sale documentation.

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Pictures and videos stolen from legitimate breeders will often be sent to victims as part of this process to convince the buyer that the animal exists.

The purpose at this stage is to rush the victim into paying a deposit, which will usually be requested as a non-refundable payment. Once the unsuspecting buyer is hooked, the offender will move onto their second stage of the scam, the sting.

Scammers will typically operate a second website, a pet shipping company. Using this, they will attempt to get more money from the buyer by asking for more fees. The most common fee usually requested at this stage is for a refundable cargo crate, often one which they claim is “temperature controlled” despite planes having pressure and climate control in cargo areas.

The offenders may also create their own fictitious stories. One victim’s comment that I found described paying about

R150 000 after being informed that there had been a plane crash and the transaction had incurred significant legal costs.

A growing problem

The number of victims and the cost of this scam for consumers is estimated to be increasing. Victim complaints made to the US Better Business Bureau, for example, have quadrupled between 2017 and last year.

So for those seeking to buy a pet online, especially during the pandemic, have a video chat with the seller. In normal circumstances, visit the pet first. Another good resource is petscams.com, the largest publicwebsite dedicated to documenting fraudulent pet and shipping websites.