Macaw Scams on Craigslist

Hi all

I am new here, but the recent communication I have had regarding the adoption of two Macaws made me highly suspicious, as suspected this fits in with a scam. Here are the emails including the address of the scammer:-

Mr O

Jun 13 (1 day ago)

to dannychris2012
Hi

I am contatcing you regarding the Macaws you posted on Craigs List.

I would like to clarify to avoid confusion if you dont mind, are they for adoption or sale as I couldnt make out from your ad.
If they are for adoption I can adopt one as I dont have the space for two.

Regards
-----------------------------------------------------
Danny Chris [email protected]

Jun 13 (1 day ago)

to me
Hello,
Nice reading from you regarding your interest in these Tamed & Talking Hand Raised Blue & Gold Macaw Parrots.They are 2 of them, a male(Tizzy) and a female(Lizzy), all 12 Weeks Old,hope my friend told you already that I have given him the male already?So You would be chanced to have the female.Regarding their health conditions, it will interest you to know that they are both registered,current on their shots/vaccinations,Current on their vaccinations and shots,Come With Free Cages and come with a one year health guarantee certificate.They are Hand Raised,Speak about 5000 words , as well as very sociable with kids and other household pets.All in all,knowing fully well that you are interested, that's why you found pleasure in contacting me and confirming that you should probably be a pet lover,so I am waiting to read back from you.But ,if you don't mind, I will love to have these few questions answered from you regarding your family. now i need to know some few things about you and your family.
*-have you ever been an owner of a pet before?**
-do you have kids(because Lizzy & Tizzy love kids)?
-are you capable of taking good care of these Birds(i mean financially)?
-where are you located?
-Your Contact Number?
*please do not be frightened by my question just that i want to be sure that my Birds gets into a loving and caring family that can offer them the love and care that i can not because of my schedule.
My I am demanding RM400 for adoption and transportation of the female left ,but it is negotiable depending on your location and if you would want to use my family pets delivery agent.Either ways I will be much grateful.
Waiting for your reply
----------------------------------------------------------------
Mr O

2:48 PM (23 hours ago)

to Danny
Hi

In answer to your questions yes to all. Newcastle is the location, please forgive my reluctance to share my phone details just yet.

I have never heard of the rm400 adoption form, do you have a copy? If the bird is up for adoption I would be glad to help.

Warmest
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Danny Chris [email protected]

12:03 PM (2 hours ago)

to me
Hello,
Thanks for the mail.It will be of great interest to know why I am giving them out.The nature of my job,really does not permit me take good care of them, and I spend very little time with them and the worst is that I am actually suffering from Brain Tumor, so I really need to go meet the family doctor abroad, and I can't take them along with me since its very costly traveling with them and just to let you know that we don't sell or exchange our household pets for money, that's why I need someone with a lovely home to have them.So all I am looking for is a good and lovely home for them.In addition to that, I travel a lot and will really appreciate if you will accept to take them in and spoil them with love, something they've been missing for sometime now , ever since I lost my daughter who was their one and only great companion.
Moreso, it will be of great interest to know as well that three days ago, I picked up a new job here in DARWIN),that is taking most of my time, so we moved here in DARWIN,due to the mobile nature of my job.So , I will only arrange for a HOME DELIVERY SERVICE, that will deliver their to your home address within the shortest time.So if that's fine by you, then get back to me with your full delivery address as follows:

Your Full Names
State/City
Postal Code
Home Address
Contact Telephone Numbers
Closest Airport


I will be able to register Lizzy & Tizzy at the delivery service,and all that you will be required to pay is only $100 for their Procession and Validation of their valid traveling papers, Canteen,Vet and Transportation fees.So just get back to me with your full delivery address, so that we can proceed.
Waiting for your reply
Danny Chris [email protected]

12:03 PM (2 hours ago)

Danny Chris [email protected]

IP Address Quick Report
IP Address: 41.202.195.57
Organization: Orange Cameroun Multimedia Service
City: n/a
Country of Origin: Cameroon


Delivered-To: Removed
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Return-Path: <[email protected]>
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Return-Path: [email protected]
Content-Type: multipart/alternative;
boundary="_c3b49622-ffc0-4e26-8068-7123f4b8d36d_"
X-Originating-IP: [41.202.195.57]
From: Danny Chris <[email protected]>
To: Removed
Subject: Macaws
Date: , Jun 2012
Importance: Normal
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This scammer is not in Darwin. He is located in Cameroon Africa a well know pet scam location.

Thanks for the reply

Its good to know I was on the right track. Can I upload the pictures he has sent me by any chance, the reason I ask is the bird is now very stressed because it is chained to a stand and has started to feather pluck quite badly due to this stress. It is definitly the same bird as Macaws are quite identifiable via thier facial markings. Also in the pictures sent they have sent me there is an individual holding the bird, and the person does not look comfortable with it.

Thankyou for your post.

Warmest

M

Hi Melchitt,

You can upload the pictures. Just mark them as fake or used by scammer.

Please keep in mind that these scammers do not have the pet in their possession. Photos are stolen off the internet.

I use scamwarners it is easy and you can check a box to mark the photo.

In this link you will find information on posting photo's.
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=3219

Danny Chris [email protected]

Hello,
Thanks for the mail.It will be of great interest to know why I am giving them out.The nature of my job,really does not permit me take good care of them, and I spend very little time with them and the worst is that I am actually suffering from Brain Tumor, so I really need to go meet the family doctor abroad, and I can't take them along with me since its very costly traveling with them and just to let you know that we don't sell or exchange our household pets for money, that's why I need someone with a lovely home to have them.So all I am looking for is a good and lovely home for them.In addition to that, I travel a lot and will really appreciate if you will accept to take them in and spoil them with love, something they've been missing for sometime now , ever since I lost my daughter who was their one and only great companion.
Moreso, it will be of great interest to know as well that three days ago, I picked up a new job here in (BROOKLYN.MD),that is taking most of my time, so we moved here in BROOKLYN,due to the mobile nature of my job.So , I will only arrange for a HOME DELIVERY SERVICE, that will deliver their to your home address within the shortest time.So if that's fine by you, then get back to me with your full delivery address as follows:

Your Full Names
State/City
Postal Code
Home Address
Contact Telephone Numbers
Closest Airport


I will be able to register Lizzy & Tizzy at the delivery service,and all that you will be required to pay is only $200 for their Procession and Validation of their valid traveling papers, Canteen,Vet and Transportation fees.So just get back to me with your full delivery address, so that we can proceed.
Waiting for your reply

The scammer will introduce a fake shipping company. That will will require fees to paid through Western Union or Money Gram. The scammer and shipping company are the same person. Do not send any money to anyone you met over the internet. If the scammer is successful in receiving money. He will later use the fake shipping company party to convince you of new fees.

I Was Looking On Craigslist For A Macaw And I Find That Mine Is A Scam To. They Want All My Information And For Me To Pay A Small Fee For The Shipping. They Even Sent Me Pictures. I Put The Pictures In Google To See If They Were Fake. I Came Upon A Website With The Same Pictures Asking For Someone To Buy The Macaw For $800 But They Want Me To Adopt Him. The Names Different And The Information Is All Different. I Told Them I Would Do A COD Because I Don't Trust Craigslist. I've Been Scammed Before And I Don't Want It To Happen Again

Hello Alexzandra_Gasper welcome to Scamwarners.

What you have posted is a scam attempt. These birds are not cheap and no one is giving them away. The scammer does not have any Macaw’s. He is trying to steal your money. He wants you to send money to a fake shipper. The shipper is the scammer.

If you send him money he will continue to lie and make up reasons why you should send more money. The process will not stop until you realize that you have been scammed or run out of money.

Please purchase your pet from a local store. You will be able to see the conditions/environment the pet was raised in. Also the health of the pet.

Never send Western Union or Money Gram payment to someone you met on the internet.

What email address did the scammer use? Did he have a Website?

Bryon

Hi,
I have been looking for another parrot. I just found this ad on Craigs List in Chico Ca,
Is this ad anything like the as you first saw posted about the parrots?

Strunning macaw for sale - with all pappers. has been hand reared from birth very tame and loving.
The age of the macaw is 8 months, very healthy and active.Very playful with kids and other home pets. $500 each

[AlanJones]

Hi,
I have been looking for another parrot. I just found this ad on Craigs List in Chico Ca,
Is this ad anything like the as you first saw posted about the parrots?

Strunning macaw for sale - with all pappers. has been hand reared from birth very tame and loving.
The age of the macaw is 8 months, very healthy and active.Very playful with kids and other home pets. $500 each

It is a pet being advertised on a classifieds site - it is 99.99% certain to be a scam.

Unless you can pay the person face-to-face and take it with you, you are likely to end up being scammed.

I just received a reply to the message I first copied and posted here that was on Craig's List.

The first posting, I replied to, was a short couple of sentences.

But when they wrote back, I got the same info that the other forum member listed in his post.

SCAM

Here is their reply:

kaminska Markins
To Me
Today at 7:56 AM
Hello,

Thanks for the message and interest you have in adopting a parrot from us.We have available 3 parrots going out for adoption to any loving and caring home (1 male and 2 females). Our parrots are healthy, vaccinated and have pedigree . They are 9 months old and are sociable parrots since they love the company of kids,dogs,cats ,monkeys and other house pets.They are very intelligent parrots that need attention and interaction and they are very affectionate and interactive once they are tamed hence affectionate and playful personalities,frequently good talkers and mimickers,they have the ability to talk, sing, and mimic noises they are exposed to,can step-up and step-down onto and from the owner’s hand and all members of the household and confident strangers,Stay on a perch or play gym when put there,Willingly enter the cage or carrier,They use words in context for example, calling family members by name, or requesting certain food items by name.

They are famous for their spectacular performance on the TV show and they can make the sound of the door alarm beeping when they observe someone is walking towards the door. They then learned to generalize this sound to any door opening, including ones that don’t cause the alarm to beep, like the cupboard door.They have their cage large enough to exercise in, stretch their wings, and climb if it will not be out for a good part of the day. Without exercise, parrots tend to become obese and unhealthy so you should take note that toys (enrichment) are necessary for these parrots. Our parrots shall be coming with all their health papers , play toys,cage,feeding manual since we shall not be needing those accessories once they are gone into their new home.Attached to this email are recent pictures of our parrots.

The reason we are giving our parrots out for adoption is because we moved into a new apartment in Phoenix,AZ were animals are not allowed . In this situation,we are searching for new homes for the parrots but we are much concerned on the type of home our parrots go into.In order to adopt a parrot from us you are required to answer the questions below,

1) How old are you ?
2) Where are you located (state / city ) ?
3) What is your cell phone number ?
4) Are you married ?
5) Do you have kids at home to play with the parrot ?
6) From the pictures we sent ,which of the parrot or parrots are you interested in getting ?

The reason we asked those questions is to be sure our parrot is going into a loving and caring home,were he or she shall be spoiled with lots of love and care.All you shall be spending is $500 which happens to be the transportation and delivery cost of each parrot to your home.We shall have to transport and deliver the parrot of your choice to you alongside his or her accessories . We shall not reply to any email if the person does not answer the questions above since we are concerned on the type of home our parrots are going into . More information regarding on how the transportation and delivery of the parrot to your location shall be carried out will be provided to you once we receive your reply.

Thanks and waiting your reply

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I am dealing with these people right now and they are saying they will trace my number and find me. They are calling me from this number 604-343-9977. Im waiting for them on my porch. Somthing tells me it will be a wile. Lmao

Its good to know I was on the right track. Can I upload the pictures he has sent me by any chance, the reason I ask is the bird is now very stressed because it is chained to a stand and has started to feather pluck quite badly due to this stress. It is definitly the same bird as Macaws are quite identifiable via thier facial markings. Also in the pictures sent they have sent me there is an individual holding the bird, and the person does not look comfortable with it.

Thankyou for your post.

Warmest

M[/quote]

There are directions for posting photos in my signature line.

Just to make sure it's clear--while the bird in the photos will be real, the scammers have never actually seen it or had possession of it. Pet scammers like these simply find photos on the internet that support whatever they are using as bait, then they save those photos and pretend they have the animal in the photos (and also pretend that they are the people in the photos.)

With that said, posting the photos they use can be helpful, because they often continue to use the same photos over and over again.

Assuming it started with a 1, the phone number traces to distributel communications, which is a VOIP provider. If there was no country code of 1, the phone number would be Malaysian, also very possible as it is a hotbed for African scammers.