Shih-Tzu Craigslist Scammer!

I recently tried to purchase a male shih-tzu puppy from a craigslist user named William Beckett and his family for $350. There had been so many warning signs such as him requesting a Amazon gift card as payment and having his craigslist location set to orange, but he claimed to live out in delaware.

This is the original advertisement:
https://orangecounty.craigslist.org/pet/d/beautiful-shih-tzu-puppies/6625387904.html

The advertisement read:
"BEAUTIFUL SHIH TZU PUPPIES MALES AND FEMALES,CURRENT VACCINES AND DEWORMED
12 WEEKS OLD AND EATING SOLID FOOD,READY TO TAKE HOMEOur female shih tzu puppy is about 12 weeks old. She's up to date on shots so she won'tr be needing those. Beautiful cuddly girl but our youngest child is just still too young and rough with her. It's not fair to the kitty so I think she would do best in a home with older children who can respect her boundaries and play gently with her. Asking a $300 rehoming fee. Please text
Hello I really want her to have a safe home. I have the litter box full of litter with the scoop, and some extra litter. Also I have a big food bag.Any adoption fee would be helpful. She is one month old, so please contact me asap if you are interested.
Very beautiful and healthy. Playful and friendly. Raised in clean home and loving environment. Never caged. Litter box trained.
❤️male/female shih tzu puppies❤️ 80252
3 months old male and female=== shih tzu puppies
Thank you and God bless,
Excellent@@@@@@@@Purebred shih tzu puppies
Contact for additional information."

After initially contacting the poster, he responded with a different email claiming it to be a "family email" and included photos of the puppies with three kids that appeared to be siblings. I sent back the gift card through a photo and he said that he would get the paperwork together and have the puppy delivered the next day. The next day, I received emails from the "Logistic Courier" delivery service and the format of the email itself is what IPATA used as an example of a scamming pet carrier email. After trying to contact the seller again I was notified that I was calling a textfree number.

I now believe that he has removed his listing, but I hope nothing like this happens to anyone else out there!

https://www.ipata.org/current-pet-scams

Please post any contact information for this scam such as telephone numbers and email addresses.

Please post a copy of the email that asked for the payment via gift cards.

Hi, these scammers got $250 out of me. I’m so disappointed in myself. And such a disappointment that these people think it’s ok to take advantage of others. I have faith that they will get what they deserve. I did want to ask if there is anything I can do or any legal entity that I can reach out to file an official report?

[AlanJones]

You can file a report with your local law enforcement and also on the FBI's IC3 website https://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx.

Depending on how you paid, you should also report the fraud to your bank or whichever money transfer service you used. If you paid by gift card then there is no one to complain to about that.