by UnhappyDisgusted
Thu Oct 01, 2015 11:34 pm
Hi all,
Just thought I'd post my experience here about catsadoption.com as it seems that many people all over the western countries particularly are being scammed by people offering free cats/kittens and asking for money to ship/transport them to their address, the result being that the pets never appear, and your money is lost.
Site: http://au.catsadoptions.com/ (there are other similar websites in the US/UK).
I couldn't believe that catsadoptions.com were offering so many free ragdoll kittens (all the ads in the region looked very similar, so I wondered whether a cattery was shutting down). I had checked prices for ragdoll kittens from registered breeders' websites- they were $750-$1200 each for kittens. I also noticed that very similar ads were showing over the past year, but thought maybe people didn't use the site much and they were selling off their cats over a period of time.
I put away my misgivings, emailed them a message through the site and received a reply that asked me to email a particular address for more information.
Message received:
" Hello there, Email [email protected] for more details and pics.The kittens are still available both male and female."
I emailed them back, although I was a little surprised because the site allows you to send messages to each other which needing to communicate directly from each other's emails.
The reply I received was sent at 5:10am, which I thought was a little weird seeing they were in the same region as us (why would they be up so early?). Here is the response as below:
"Hello,
Thanks for your inquiry about my kittens. I have a male and
female available to give out. They are 12 weeks old, vet checked and
registered, well trained and love the company of children and other
household pets. They are healthy and have all their complete
documents. We are giving out these kittens because our son is sick and
recently became allergic to animals, so our doctor advised us to give
out the kittens. Honestly we do feel sad to give out these kittens but
we got no choice since our son's health is very important to us. All
we now want is for these kittens to move into a loving and caring
home. Before giving these kittens away, we would like to ask you some
few questions:
Have you ever raised a kitten before?
which breed are you interested in?
Do you have a contact number you can be reached on?
Do you have experience with this breed?
Why are you looking for a kitten/kittens?
Do you have a vet around your home?
Where are you located?
Can you afford for the Cost and transportation of the kitten/kittens?
Would you like to have the male or the female or maybe both siblings?
How soon do you need the kitten/kittens?
Sorry if we had asked many questions, we just want to be
sure these kittens get the love and care they need. Looking forward to
hearing from you."
I did respond, answering the questions although I was surprised by the question "which breed are you interested in?" although I had clearly responded to a ragdoll kitten advertisement. The photos of the male kitten sent looked legitimate, except for the photos of the female which were extremely minute- rather like a tiny profile picture (in reflection, I believe just a picture pinched from somewhere off the internet). Another thing that didn't sound right was that they were offering 12 week old kittens, when I had clearly responded to an advertisement offering 3-6 month old kittens.
After responding and waiting for a reply, I checked the website catsadoption.com to see whether the ad had been pulled down. No, it was not and as I went back through the ads in the region I noticed they were all very similar. I checked other regions in my state, again same type of ads advertising the same type and age of kittens with all paperwork, sterilised, vaccinated etc etc over the entire state, even from unlikely harsh country areas. Then I checked interstate- the same ads were plastered multiple times, over several years, all over the entire country of Australia, covering almost all regions. Ridiculous! Then I started googling whether it was a scam, and yes, others had had the same experience.
STAY AWAY FROM THE WHOLE SITE- I didn't see one legitimate advertisement offering a cat/kitten for adoption free, or even for sale, at all.
Very disgusted Australian- wish there were some way of shutting down the whole site. It looks like these scammers have been operating for years.
Just thought I'd post my experience here about catsadoption.com as it seems that many people all over the western countries particularly are being scammed by people offering free cats/kittens and asking for money to ship/transport them to their address, the result being that the pets never appear, and your money is lost.
Site: http://au.catsadoptions.com/ (there are other similar websites in the US/UK).
I couldn't believe that catsadoptions.com were offering so many free ragdoll kittens (all the ads in the region looked very similar, so I wondered whether a cattery was shutting down). I had checked prices for ragdoll kittens from registered breeders' websites- they were $750-$1200 each for kittens. I also noticed that very similar ads were showing over the past year, but thought maybe people didn't use the site much and they were selling off their cats over a period of time.
I put away my misgivings, emailed them a message through the site and received a reply that asked me to email a particular address for more information.
Message received:
" Hello there, Email [email protected] for more details and pics.The kittens are still available both male and female."
I emailed them back, although I was a little surprised because the site allows you to send messages to each other which needing to communicate directly from each other's emails.
The reply I received was sent at 5:10am, which I thought was a little weird seeing they were in the same region as us (why would they be up so early?). Here is the response as below:
"Hello,
Thanks for your inquiry about my kittens. I have a male and
female available to give out. They are 12 weeks old, vet checked and
registered, well trained and love the company of children and other
household pets. They are healthy and have all their complete
documents. We are giving out these kittens because our son is sick and
recently became allergic to animals, so our doctor advised us to give
out the kittens. Honestly we do feel sad to give out these kittens but
we got no choice since our son's health is very important to us. All
we now want is for these kittens to move into a loving and caring
home. Before giving these kittens away, we would like to ask you some
few questions:
Have you ever raised a kitten before?
which breed are you interested in?
Do you have a contact number you can be reached on?
Do you have experience with this breed?
Why are you looking for a kitten/kittens?
Do you have a vet around your home?
Where are you located?
Can you afford for the Cost and transportation of the kitten/kittens?
Would you like to have the male or the female or maybe both siblings?
How soon do you need the kitten/kittens?
Sorry if we had asked many questions, we just want to be
sure these kittens get the love and care they need. Looking forward to
hearing from you."
I did respond, answering the questions although I was surprised by the question "which breed are you interested in?" although I had clearly responded to a ragdoll kitten advertisement. The photos of the male kitten sent looked legitimate, except for the photos of the female which were extremely minute- rather like a tiny profile picture (in reflection, I believe just a picture pinched from somewhere off the internet). Another thing that didn't sound right was that they were offering 12 week old kittens, when I had clearly responded to an advertisement offering 3-6 month old kittens.
After responding and waiting for a reply, I checked the website catsadoption.com to see whether the ad had been pulled down. No, it was not and as I went back through the ads in the region I noticed they were all very similar. I checked other regions in my state, again same type of ads advertising the same type and age of kittens with all paperwork, sterilised, vaccinated etc etc over the entire state, even from unlikely harsh country areas. Then I checked interstate- the same ads were plastered multiple times, over several years, all over the entire country of Australia, covering almost all regions. Ridiculous! Then I started googling whether it was a scam, and yes, others had had the same experience.
STAY AWAY FROM THE WHOLE SITE- I didn't see one legitimate advertisement offering a cat/kitten for adoption free, or even for sale, at all.
Very disgusted Australian- wish there were some way of shutting down the whole site. It looks like these scammers have been operating for years.
