I've just been scammed (I think?)

So I wanted to adopt two scottish folds and after answering a listing on catsadoptions.ca. The owner promised that the kittens were free and all I had to do was to pay for the delivery, which I was happy to do so. An hour later, the petflyer company told me I had to pay up another thousand for the climate controlled crates, half for each crate to ensure the kittens' safety. I almost did but after realizing something weird was going on, I quickly cancelled the transaction. Now I should've stopped replying to any of their emails, both the owner and the petflyer as soon as I realize something suspicious but I failed to do so.

As a result, the owner kept sending me emails about how the kittens will die if they don't get to my place soon, and that she is willing to pay for one of the crates but i'd have to pay for the rest. The supposed petflyer company called me through a private caller to tell me that they're legit and that they're in Montreal with the kittens right now but once they gave me their number after my request, it had a Cameroon area code. The owner is sending me a lot of emails asking me if it's all good on my end but at this point, I know I shouldn't respond.

However, the problem is they know my personal details (address, email, and phone numbers) and I am not sure what to do. Any advice?

Hello nymw, welcome to scamwarners.

Those were definitely scammers you were dealing with. Cameroon is a hotspot for petscams, and is a sure sign. I am glad to hear you were able to cancel the transaction before you lost anything (or so I understoon it?).

The message about the kittens dieing soon is just emotional blackmail. Obviously there never were any kittens, and it's a last attempt to get you to pay up anyways.

As you said yourself, just ignore the emails. Or the phone calls, should they try. They will get the message soon enough no money is to be found with you and move on. You don't have to worry about them taking any sort of revenge - if there is no easy money for them they won't bother putting energy in it. There might be mails in the future containing the so-called recovery scam: Mails that say you were the victim and that you will be refunded for any losses if you'd just pay a little amount for lawyer fees/ document costs etc. Just ignore them.

I would like you to post all the details of these scammers on this forum. Email addresses, phone numbers, emails,... Be sure to remove your personal details from them. I am also interested in the courier company, I'm guessing they showed you a website of the courier? If they operate using such a website, we can get it shut down.

If we can help you in any other way or if you have additional questions please do not hesitate to ask!

Thank you so much for the swift reply.

I paid $250 for the "delivery fee", but I have retracted all other transactions. However, I am not sure how to remove my personal details from them without still being in contact with them.

I'll post all their information up on another thread. Thank you so very much for the help, especially bringing some peace to my mind.

--
PS. What was also idiotic of me was not checking the courier's website first. The courier was legit, but they had an article on how pet scammers operate, which pointed out the same scenario that I was in...:/

My bad - I wasn't completely clear there. With 'removing your personal details' I meant that when you post all emails here on the forum, to remove your own name and email address from the conversation

No need to call yourself an idiot. Deceiving people is the only thing they do day in day out, you're definitely not the first and certainly not the last they can convince. Some of them are very good at what they do. In some cases they set up their own fake websites which can be very, very convincing.

I'm sorry to hear you lost some money, but I'm glad to hear you found out before losing even more.

Oh yes, thank you for the heads up. I've omitted everything personal from the email exchange!

And thank you...I've heard so much about scammers but never realized how skilled they are at playing with a person's mind. May this small amount be a good life lesson...

Hello I had the same problem with Mrs. fromm Cameroon. And I adopt a dog as a gift for our daughter for Christmas because we can not afford to buy from hatchery.I stayed without money and without a dog, and now the child expected Christmas gift. I do not know what to doing! She performed as a member of the Peace Corps. Her name is Sylvia Sauvage. So she presented Who can help us in this case?

Hello Yana, I'm very sorry to hear you were scammed Have you reported this to the police already? If not, I strongly encourage you to do so. Don't delete the emails you received as they may be used in evidence.

I would also like you to post the emails you received here and to post their email address, fake courier service, phone numbers, anything you have on them. It might prevent others from being scammed.

I'm afraid that your money is gone. These scammers operate from a different country (or continent, even) and the money trail is almost untraceable.

sylvia savage [email protected]

Hello ,

Glad to know that you are interested in our female

Yorkie puppy. She is 10 weeks old , 100% clean , Porty

trained and well socialized with children and other
pets. I want to give it for free because I am currently

work in Cameroon as a Peace Corp and the load is

too much for me and I do not have enough time to take care

baby . Also, the state of the time there is actually

bad and I do not want to risk their health. Therefore I am

gives it free to any loving family that will show

her love and attention.

Let me know if you take it , so I 'll take it

to the shipping company and will pay for

transportation and delivery of the puppy directly to

delivery agency. You will pay me money for

puppy.

thank you

Sylvi?

Hello,

Good morning. I said if you Peggy, I'll take her to the company
delivery. Delivery company will contact you by phone
or email and tell you to pay them $ 100. Once you pay them these
money, they will deliver Peggy door steps within 6 hours.

I hope you understand?
Sylvia

and that of the fake company
animal transport pet travel

"pet delievry agency" [email protected]

Dear customers,

We would like to uinform all documents have been cleared for the puppy to take off in the next available flight. Thanks very, very bad weather, you need to pay a refundable $ 250 insurance. This amount is only to cover the puppy during the flight, so if something happens to your puppy, the insurance company will compensate you with $ 5,000. The $ 250 will be reimbursed back to you at the time of delivery of the puppy from our delivery agent Mr.Smith. You will be required to sign for delivery before the courier representative will recover any money. So, please send the money to the same address as yesterday. Use the same information that is sent by you to make payment yesterday.

Note: Please send us a test question and answer that you used to make the payment yesterday. Also do not
and telephone number from which rang me:+23770541395


We are a legitimate company, we are also victims of these scammers are they are using our name.

I am Sorry that you were tricked by these scammers.


Here is a link to the IPATA website with some information on these pet scams.


http://www.ipata.org/pet-scams/


Please report them so as to avoid them being able to scam others.


Report them, including any and all correspondence between yourself and them, (i.e emails, phone numbers, etc.) to:


http://www.fraudwatchers.org


And here is a news video from an Arizona news station about these scammers:


http://www.azfamily.com/news/consumer/S ... 81611.html

Best Regards,

I wrote on the official website of this company and management experts had written my sites including this written complaint to another site for fraud ashamed to go to the police because I work there, and I let myself be deceived by this way.This will get over it but I can not find a dog to adopt a for our daughter, and she expects it for Christmas, and not have such resources that to buy from dog kennel.

Added quotations. (BW)