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Beware of scammer

jaxx

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Jan 19, 2024
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Hi everyone. Beware of scammer Who says they have kittens for sale in Virginia. Do not send any money via zelle.

They have stolen pics from other breeder and Instagram groups. If you need to know the name please PM me.

I got scammed out a deposit and he blocked me when I called him out on it. Banks can't do anything with zelle, so I couldn't dispute it either.
 
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Catzzzmeow

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I am so sorry to hear of this. I had to tweak your original post a bit because names of catteries/breeders cannot be listed in the public areas/posts.
 

Catzzzmeow

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Here are a couple of links you might find helpful if you continue to search. @jaxx
Ways to help detect fraud & scammers when adopting/buying a cat


 

Yoda mom

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@jaxx , oh my heart, I am so very sorry to hear this. Thank you for sharing the heads up with the location of the breeder and sadly banks will not help if Zelle payment used. I know western union was always a big red flag, now they are soo creative with other forms of payment, Heartbreaking.

we cant share names on main page. I would greatly appreciate if you can PM me in conversation to share the breeders cattery name so I an keep an eye out.

all paws crossed for hearts to align for you. we can PM you reputable breeders .
I will be following your adoption post.
 

PurranhasDen

Lairian
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Apr 13, 2023
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@jaxx , oh my heart, I am so very sorry to hear this. Thank you for sharing the heads up with the location of the breeder and sadly banks will not help if Zelle payment used. I know western union was always a big red flag, now they are soo creative with other forms of payment, Heartbreaking.

we cant share names on main page. I would greatly appreciate if you can PM me in conversation to share the breeders cattery name so I an keep an eye out.

all paws crossed for hearts to align for you. we can PM you reputable breeders .
I will be following your adoption post.
I fell for a scammer myself some time back. There were all kinds of flags but I ignored them. I’m sad to say that I did some impressive mental gymnastics to convince myself that they were legit. These creeps are so creative. When they asked that I PayPal the deposit and to send it ‘friends & family”, I thought that was to avoid fees but as it turns out, sending money that way does indeed avoid fees but also releases PayPal and the scammer of any buyer/seller contract obligations. I was able to recoup some of the money I lost because I had put it on a credit card and was able to dispute it.
Those scammers tug on our heartstrings and I firmly believe that there is a special place in h*ll for people that use innocent animals (and people) to run scams. I did a reverse image search on a pic that those crooks used and found that they had lifted it from a cattery 3000 miles away from where they claimed to be. I had an email exchange with said cattery to let them know their kittens pics were being used. This is why any reputable cattery will list their kitten pics with watermarks. Not a fail safe but at least it’s something.
 

PurranhasDen

Lairian
Joined
Apr 13, 2023
Messages
80
Points
44
I just recently saw a posting from the cattery local to my home that I got Spike from (who BTW is porking out at 6 lbs and is being a most excellently behaved little boy), that someone was using the pics of her kittens. The pics, the layout and the descriptions were all lifted verbatim.
I would ask what the **** is wrong with people but I really don’t want the answer..
 

Yoda mom

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@PurranhasDen , scammers really get under my skin how they steal info and pics and prey on those looking to open their hearts and home to sphynx love.
did you share what you discovered with the breeder?

oh, btw Spike is growing and soo happy doing great!
 

PurranhasDen

Lairian
Joined
Apr 13, 2023
Messages
80
Points
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I didn’t find it. I follow her FB page and she had posted on her page that she’d found the listing (or someone else found it.) She was pointing out how she only requests a flat deposit to get on the waitlist and then full payment upon receipt of the kitten, and anything that demands more money up front is likely a scam. There is also a lengthy application (where she wants to know if you rent or own and details about who the kitten will live with as well as a contract that requires the kitten have health insurance in place prior to picking up, etc.) These are all the sort of things you want to look for that identifies a reputable breeder. With Spike, I got to meet him and all his siblings as well as his mom before bringing him home. Also getting to see the facility he was raised in was awesome.
Spike’s breeder is always available for questions and concerns and she stands behind her contract. We had many a long chat about his peeing issues and she had lots of feedback for me. I’m so proud to be part of the *** family (contact the mods privately for specific info since posting they is against TOS)!!!
 
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