We've recently been on the receiving end of a pet courier scam using our website' s name to dupe people into paying for something that doesn't exist. Please note that we do not provide any services or products - just the great advice you see on this website. Here are some more details about the scam and other pet courier scams to be aware of.
How could you not be moved by the plight of the puppy that just happens to be the exact same breed that you’re looking for? You make contact with the person concerned and after they’ve asked you some questions about how you intend to look after their valuable pet, they decide that yes, you’re the perfect choice of owner, and all that remains to be arranged is the transporting of the pet to where you live.
But wait – it seems they are a fair distance away from you. So they’ll have to sort out pet transportation, and that’s not going to be cheap. Some cheeky fraudsters have been cashing in on the good name of www.petsanddtravel.co.uk to try and scam honest people out of their money, in an elaborate hoax that tries to part potential pet owners with cash for the costs of transporting the animals from one side of the country to the other. Concerned members of the public have been in contact with petsandtravel.co.uk, to find out whether requests for large sums of money are genuine.
It goes without saying that they are not. Petsandtravel.co.uk has never sold products to the public, and has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the scammers who are purporting to sell or trade pets.
Pet Scam Case Studies
Unbelievably, one potential pet owner was told that the reason he could only pay for his German Shepherd dog, (which was originally in Liverpool but had conveniently just been relocated to Northern Ireland), to be transported was... “due to the high rate of fraud going on in the UK all their UK based account are under auditing and reconstruction so all their payment are been forwarded to their head quarter Cameroon.”(original grammatical errors included for reference here.)
Naturally, when asked to forward money to a Western union account, most people will be highly suspicious, but the fraudster continued, “you just have to trust me and make a payment of hundred pounds tomorrow.”
Thankfully, this astute consumer saw through the scam, but the side-effect of getting into correspondence with scammers in the first place is that he now gets bombarded with spam emails telling him that he’s won prizes and just has to send cash to be awarded them.
Another excited pet owner was pleased to find that someone had socialised beagles available to be adopted, allegedly because her mother (who lived in the Isle of Man) had recently died and the scammer was unable to take them in. The lady in question chatted over email with the pet scammer and was asked several questions about her own suitability as a pet owner, before being asked to send £200 “to include delivery”. In a later email the £200 was described as simply being the courier fee. The intended victim of the scam smelled a rat when the emails started asking for money for a courier firm called Pets and Travel, and gave the www.petsandtravel.co.uk website. She says,
“ I believe now the whole name, everything was made up. I got suspicious as I felt she went a little too far with her story, plus her grammar sounded foreign. I then went onto the website for Pets and Travel, as I am a natural cynic, to check if it was correct and obviously found it wasn't.”
What to look Out For with Pet Scammers
Consumer Direct advise that there are no pending investigations into this type of activity going on at the moment, and in fact it would be difficult to investigate anyway as the perpetrators of this type of pet scam are clearly based abroad and using fake email addresses. The adverts appear in several websites and have also been reported in USA, Australia and New Zealand and elsewhere.
Our Advice
Be wary of:
Sob stories about why the animals are being given away
Locations that involve a long journey for the pet – especially if they’ve conveniently ‘just moved’.
Requests to send money for transporting the pet using Western Union (especially to an account in Cameroon)
Sample email:
Here is an example of the email you might receive following an initial enquiry:
"We are very happy to read from you so soon,And i have just attached some of the pics and we are sure you are going to loves and spoil her with love ,cuddle , attention and provide her with all her needs . We need Her to go into a lovely and caring and a forever home. Firstly let me tell you about her .She is called Louisa . She is veterinary checked and vaccinated and have all health records till date and all papers . So we are giving her to a good home and for ever home...
Since you guys are not so close to us, we shall use the Pet Delivery Carrier and they will get the puppy delivered at your home address that you will provide to us. As soon as we have the details, we shall prepare the change of ownership papers before we do the delivery registration with the Carrier . Do get back to us with the details so we can prepare the change of ownership papers and do the delivery registration with the Courier. You will have to pay just £200 and that is directly to the Courier company before delivery as the agency will need the money to process all the delivery documents before transportation of the puppy okay and also send all the relevant papers work via the Courier service."
cannot believe this i very very nearly just got scammed myself only an hour ago,we`d seen an advert for pug puppies £200 in our area(so we thought) I emailed the person to ask and they said exactly the same things mentioned earlier ie forever home and his wife had kidney transplant etc etc...i nearly fell for it still thinking they were local to us and we could go and see the puppy,then he dropped the bombshell theyb were in aberdeen and they would use a courier....now im sorry I love animals but no way would I buy one without seeing it first and getting to know it...I smelt something fishy so ignored last email and decided to google..and here i am...
mrs s - 6 May 2012 @ 7:10 PM
I have had various emails today from someone giving away 3 Rotties as they have just moved from Greece.It was obviously a scam from the beginning but I had fun emailing them.But the first email was a mixture of emails, talking about Chihuahua's. I am in Aberdeenshire, so they wanted to send it by courier, then they gave me an address which NE of England, even though I live in NE Scotland.And not only do our family still live there, I know the area so well. If I want to go to see these dogs, I have to between 7.30am and 12.30pm on Tuesday and Fridays.it kept getting worse and worse.I have contacted South Tyneside Trading Standards and forwarded all emails to them.
I used to be an advice worker, and there is a saying 'If it seems to good to be true, it's because it is'.Now I had fun emailing them this morning as I was bored.
Please Never Ever buy a puppy without seeing it, playing with it, cuddling it etc.Or from people like this or Puppy Farmers.if they breed various types of dogs constantly, run for the hills!!!!And use your head and not your heart
faltskog5450 - 2 May 2012 @ 2:41 PM
It's such a shame to see scams like this!! What I seem to see is that in a lot of cases when Western Union are involved there is a scam behind the deal!!The problem is these people are credible - I have seen emails of this type and they are very enticing.I always think - if it's too good to be true then it probably is!!I hope you manage to get your money back.
Breeder - 30 April 2012 @ 5:37 PM
I've justbeen scammed by what sounds like thesame person. She was selling pure pedigree beagle puppies for £175. Told me that i had to wire that money via western union to camaroon. Then all of a sudden i was told i needed to pay £550 for the puppy for the courier. Luckily i phoned the airport where the puppy was meant to be held and they have no knowledge of it. I feel such an idiot. I went to buy this puppy for my little boys 2nd birthday. now were near on £200 down :'( I'm getting the police involved as this can't go on.
teenmommy--08 - 30 April 2012 @ 3:15 PM
your not going to believe this IT JUST NEARLY HAPPENED TO ME!!!! there on a website selling pugs for £180 and guess wot yes for delivery and got a similar story and the isle of man was mentioned.i only checked as i never heard of pets being delivered so i thought id google it,and thats how come i seen yous and im now writing my version of events......omg something surely has to be done about this....... luckily i never handed any money over but i will be sending them a very convincing email saying im an investigater and im on to them big time.!!!!!!!!!
dee - 2 April 2012 @ 5:48 PM
ive just been scamed for a pedigree chihauhau,they asked me to pay £80 for it,then gets email asking for £550 for insurance so i payed it,then got another email this morning asking for further £480 for a breeders licence to ship the puppuy from london to my home.im so cutted that people can do such a thing to a disabled pwerson.ive realised that ive been scamed and feel so stupid
sandy - 9 August 2011 @ 1:51 PM
Hey, I have been searching for a westie pup and came across an ad for a female pup for £150, and that was just delivery. I got all excited and started in contact with a lady, she told me that her mother had suddenly passed away and they are in the isle of man and the westies are there and she would deliever them to me. They were in such a hurry to get my money this morning that I was really suspicious. Then I informed her I couldn't pay until today. She went ahead this morning and registered the pup, and sent me the delivery company number (pets&travel). I rung 4 times before getting through and when I did the guy was cheeky, rude, and I couldn't understand anything he said. He also hung up a few times on me, so I asked my partner what he thought. When I asked about payment he told me I had to wire the money, but it had to be paid with cash. That's when I got suspicious, even though she sent me images they could be from Google. I decided to cancel, as I was unsure, and I got mails about breaking her heart. I believe I broke her heart becuase I caught on. The story I have is similar to one above but it's a different dog. I cannot find the pets and travel website, instead I found this site which confirms my suspicions. I am glad I never went ahead with it.
emma - 5 July 2011 @ 10:38 AM
I experienced the exact same thing as they asked me for £200 for a puppy for my little brother. I had a feeling it was a scam so I researched further and I called him back. I said to him that I have just come back from Western Union and I got the confirmation number, he asked for it and I said the conformation number is....and I told him very rudely to go away, he laughed and hanged up. I want to bring this guy down!
Dani - 23 April 2011 @ 10:38 AM
I have just had the same done to me. I told them I could go and collect myself but they keep saying that I couldn't. They even offered to pay £100 towards delivery. Once I go the email from the delivery company I knew something was wrong. I am gutted as the parrots were for my disabled son. How can people do this? I really believed that I was getting the birds. I am just glad I didn't pay any money.
DANDALION - 14 March 2011 @ 9:14 AM
I have been a victim of this scam.I am a single parent and describe myself as pretty clued up on being scammed.I replied to an ad for a Ragdoll kitten which after a few e-mails to the owner I decided I wanted it.She informed me all it would cost me was £80 for the kitten and delivery to my door. I then got an e-mail from the delivery service company, with information about what they do, telephone numbers and an address, all seemed genuine. I paid the £80 for the kitten via Western Union as instructed.The next e-mail I got from the company informed I needed pet insurance before the kitten can be put on a flight, but it is refundable on delivery of the kitten. The cost of this was £850. Once again I paid this via Western Union. The next e-mail from the company informed me the kitten had been on the flight from Northern Ireland to the Uk for 1 hour and would be at my home at 5.30pm. The following e-mail from the company informed me that the pet carrier had broken. I never got the kitten in the end.
