Report the scam/fraud where you saw the advertisement mentioning the details you have of the scammer.
There are many notorious cybercriminals who have taken advantage of digitization by creating fraudulent websites with the sole purpose of extracting money from potential pet parents. Progressing from local pet shops to online pet selling and pet relocation websites, this trend has been closely following online shopping/delivery platforms
Pet Scam/Fraud is illegal money-making by luring potential pet parents and people who want to adopt/buy a pet. This is mostly done online by creating fake websites and posting legitimate information, pictures, and videos that have been stolen. This kind of money laundering is done as a part of a two-step process.
The first step is to build trust with potential pet parents and take them in confidence. This is generally done by narrating emotional pet stories, sending pet content to them, making fake promises of pet’s well-being, swift documentation, and other requirements like a microchip, vet contacts, pet accessories, etc. The amount requested during this step is usually in the form of non-refundable payments for pet adoption, microchipping process, veterinary clinic visit bills, etc.
Once the initial payment is done, then comes the next step of the scamming process which is the transportation cost of the ‘fake pet’. This is done through a fake pet delivery/transportation website which is made to be shown real by adding a few fake relocations done by the offenders.
1 – The scammers will narrate a sad story to go with their offer.
2 – To try to sound more convincing, they would ask questions that appear genuine like the victim’s location, occupation, and family.
3 – The offenders would use highly plagiarized text from genuine pet adoption or relocation company websites to appear genuine.
4 – They will be willing to offer the pet for free and deliver it to the pet parent directly at a discounted price (usually happens with rare or expensive breeds).
5 – The scammers before the shipping process starts will ask for an additional amount for documentation, upgraded fee, pet food, pet insurance, boarding/quarantine fee, or additional vet bills.
6 – They will act as if they are in a rush.
7 – They generally would ask to make payments via unregulated payment gateways that are and strictly object to credit card payment.
8 – They might claim that they work with a legitimate organization that is based out of one country/state and ask for the payments to be done to another country/state.
9 – Communications over emails, text messages, or even telephonic conversations would have language fluency issues, bad spelling, and multiple grammatical errors.
Moving Pets Within Borders Is A Troublesome Task, With A Stack Of Documents To Be Proofed And Submitted, And Considering A Lot Of Shipping Restrictions. There Are Primarily Three Modes Of Transporting Pets In India Air, Train And Ground Shipping.’
