FB breed rescue scammers

[Esse321]

So a couple of weeks ago i had contacted a breed rescue FB page - they claimed to be a well known organisation, their FB page had a very similar website link and they contacted me back today and offered me a puppy without asking questions, so i called the actual organisation (thankfully they answered the phone even on a Sunday evening saving me money and heart ache) and yup it turned out to be a scam, just posting to say if it seems to good to be true it probably is.

So were they going to ask you for a 'deposit' before you could get the pup? The amount of scams going these days is scary!

Can you name them to alert others?

Surely most breed rescues will have older dogs and not young puppies.
Most people wouldn’t (hopefully) search through FB. It’s not the place to find a puppy.
Go via the breed club/society. They will have rescue details.

@Wolfiefan

Surely most breed rescues will have older dogs and not young puppies. Most people wouldn’t (hopefully) search through FB. It’s not the place to find a puppy. Go via the breed club/society. They will have rescue details.

I don't trust "most people".

"More than a third of puppy owners (34%) didn’t do any research before buying their dog"
www.dogstrust.org.uk/news-events/news/2020/one-third-of-people-don-t-do-any-research-before-buying-a-dog-as-charity-continues-to-rescue-smuggled-puppies-from-cruel-traders

This year has been mental for dogs (and other animals), the next two years are going to be interesting for rescues as we adapt to a post-pandemic world and so many people find themselves either going back to work routines not at home, or lose their jobs entirely and end up not being able to afford these new pandemic pets :(

Thanks for the warning. Alarming how many of these scams there are and how convincing they are - not puppy related but I nearly fell for one to do with the stock market last year and my brother actually did give his detailers to some insurance scammers a few months ago - we are both reasonably with it intelligent people (we like to think!) so it could be anyone!

Did you contact action fraud/the police? We did on both occasions and they are definitely interested in 'near misses' like yours...

The breed rescue organisation that they are impersonating was already aware and had contacted action fraud, it seems the scammers take the page down and set up a new one quite regularly - it was a KCCS rescue organisation, they've had people pay the scammers and turn up on their doorstep with kids to collect dogs that don't exist - so awful.

That's really low. But surely noone would pay for a rescue before getting the dog? Many rescues don't even ask for the adoption fee until the dog is definitely settled and staying.

We're in a FB breed group, and last night someone posted their online conversation with a 'breeder' offering puppies for sale. It's such a rare breed that any ads for puppies immediately raises red flags, so she'd started talking to the breeder, asking for photos of the puppies and details of the parents. The 'breeder' then sent her a photo supposedly of his wife holding a puppy - which was HER, holding one of her own dogs! She got his details and reported him to the police.