Pomeranian fake on Australian Trading site

I am sadly another victim of this fraud.

It started when I found this Pomeranian (very adorable) being sold for $300 AU.
http://www.simpletrade.com.au/pets/dogs ... /800278124

I thought that was extremely cheap as usually they range between $800 - $3000. I didn't want to ask the seller why it was so cheap as I thought that would be rude, so as the ad specified to email the seller if interested, I did so (seeing the ad had only been posted about a month ago).

The email was to: [email protected]

The recipient of this email address replied to my initial query by saying the puppy was still available! (What luck!)
But I noticed every time we corresponded he/she never closed the email with their name. (That's not very business like...) But it didn't click with me yet.

Then he/she said to pay $300 to their US account through Western Union using the following details:

Names.........Joseph Capuccianna
Country........USA
State............Florida
City..............Lakeworth
postcode......33461

I thought this was weird - the ad for the puppy said it was from Bunbury, Western Australia. Now I was paying someone in the US for it?? Again, I didn't ask why because I didn't want to seem nosey and I really wanted them to favor me enough to give me this adorable puppy. So I paid the $300 in US currency the next day.

Then I was sent an email from "Venture Pet" [email protected]
It went straight into my Junk folder in email so I thought that was a little strange. Then I read their email that sounded like they couldn't speak English very well, saying they would fly my puppy out to my address directly provided I pay a further $1600 for insurance purposes, which is fully refundable when I get the puppy.
So far this made sense. Then I read the part that said you must pay in Western Union only as they are currently being audited by their accountants and this is the only way they are currently allowed to accept payments. Right. Then their email provided a false (and dead) URL link for a fake website. So I couldn't get any info from there. Their email also neglected to provide company address and phone number details. And surprise, surprise, the money had to go via Western Union to their Accountants based in Cameroon. Cameroon?? Where was that? I did a Google search and found Africa. And then it clicked. I had been scammed.

So I wrote back to the Venture pet "company" and asked them for a phone number/address to discuss this insurance policy. They gave me this:

"Dear client,
Our agency here is undergoing serious audition and our contact numbers are on-hold so we can only communicate through email for now.You are free to contact our headquarter in Cameroon for any inquires.
Here is the contact number of our headquarter(0023795836405)you can talk with them.

Best Regards"

I noticed once again they didn't finish the email with their name. And that phone number is obviously made up.

So I wrote to the seller again and said simply, I know you are scamming me and I want a refund.

He wrote back with this:
"I think i should invite the security because you are maltreating my puppy."

And I said, yes please get the authorities involved, because I have already reported you to Western Union, the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and the federal police.
I have also traced your IP address and I know you are in California."

After that, he never replied.
But that's ok, because his inbox will now be flooded with a million emails from me asking "Where is my refund??"

Welcome lunatique!
I'm really sorry you have been scammed out of this considerable amount.

Cameroon is the hotspot for pet scammers. You said the sender's location seems to be California; however, this might simply be the headquarters of the email provider, depending on the method the scammer used for sending his email.

I hope that you will find a lovely dog from a kennel nearby. It is wise to have a look at the condition the puppies were raised in.

But that's ok, because his inbox will now be flooded with a million emails from me asking "Where is my refund??"

No!Don't do that. I know it's tempting, but anything you can do to his inbox, he can do to yours. Your real life one, not his disposable free one. And he has your name and address.
Also your post means that other potential victims can do an Internet search on his email address and arrive here. We don't want him to have to abandon it for a new one.
You will never get your money back. Sorry. All you can do is put this behind you and move on.

Thank you for posting this we almost got scammed by the same people just a few minutes ago they stated they were in florida and would ship us the dog as soon as they got the money through western union. We googled them and found your ad you helped us alot thanks we would of been their next victims hopefully posting these will help to stop them.


Aliases:

jessica.kims this was the yahoo im name she used to talk to me but said her name was candice

Candice Campbell
(Candice) 27 - Female - New York, New York this is what her profile on yahoo says
Candice Capuccianna this was at the bottom of the email she sent me

[email protected]

Thanks for the email and Sorry for the late reply. The puppies are still available, One male and One female puppies. Pictures of the puppies available are attached. The male puppy is King and the female puppy is Tina. These Puppies are raised in our home, wormed and wee wee pad trained. They are accustomed to all the noises and inner workings of a family home and will make excellent family pets.. My puppies have no problem health issues as they will be coming with all their health documentation ok. Also to let you know these puppies are 10 weeks old.

We are very reputable esteem breeders based in Lakeworth,Florida. We have Been breeding these Pomeranian for the past 5 years and we have alot of experience with them,. we breed these Pomeranian in the most comfortable environment.

I am giving them out for adoption because of my newly acquired Job as an auditor which demands a lot of my time and entails a lot of traveling. As such, i have little or no time to spend with them. They are really in need of a home where they will be provided with all the love, care and attention they are being deprived of here. All you will be spending to get each of the puppies will be $350 which will be for the following

Adoption Fee: - -- - - - - - - -- - - - - - $100
Transfer Of Ownership Document:- - -$50
Flight And Delivery Fee:- - - - - - - - - -$200
Making A Total:- - - - - - - - -- - - $350


however, i can have them delivered to you if you can assure me that you will take proper care of them by answering to the below questions

1. Your Names:
2. How many people are in the family.
3. Who will be the primary caregiver to this puppy/puppies.
4. Are you looking for a pet, a show dog or for breeding?
5. Do you have other pets?
6. Will this be your first experience with a pet?
7. How long will the puppy/puppies be left alone while you are working during the day?
8. Finally where are you located?


They are still available and we pray that they will move into a good home .We will miss them very much but my job is so demanding and i don't have much time to take proper care of them. We hope to read from you soon. Thanks so much and get back to me if you think you can provide a good home.

All The Best
Candice

This is the email she sent me

This is the yahoo chat conversation we had

jessica.kims: 10 weeks old
nursecc79: ok
jessica.kims: its sent
nursecc79: ok i will show it to him and get back with you soon
jessica.kims: how soon will that be?
nursecc79: he gets home from work in about 2 hours but I know that right now we cannot afford 700 for both dogs so it will only be able to be 1 if he agrees
jessica.kims: ok will be waiting to hear back from you
nursecc79: Oh my goodness they are adorable I love them already
nursecc79: how long does it take to ship them?
jessica.kims: 2 hours 27 minutes to get them shipped and delivered at your home
nursecc79: do they deliver on the weekend?
jessica.kims: yeah ofcourse
nursecc79: and you are ok with splitting them up?
jessica.kims: hold on let me ask my husband please
nursecc79: ok
Hide Recent Messages (F3)

jessica.kims: ok he says yes
jessica.kims: are you there?
jessica.kims: Crystal??
nursecc79: yes sorry wifi went out lol
nursecc79: if my husband agrees i want the female
jessica.kims: ok great
jessica.kims: I will then email u with the information which I will be using to have her sent to u as soon as u get back to me,ok?
nursecc79: my husband would like to know if the dogs are akc papered?
jessica.kims: yeah ofcourse
jessica.kims: and she will be coming along with the papers
nursecc79: so how would this transaction go as far as paying for her
jessica.kims: well my husband says he'll prefer any fast an d reliable money transfer like western union since it lies one way to the airport where we shall have her registered
jessica.kims: did you get the mail I sent with the pictures?
nursecc79: yes i got them
jessica.kims: have you replied already?
nursecc79: not yet i was just talking to my husband on the phone he will be here shortly
jessica.kims: oh ok
nursecc79: i just replied to the email
jessica.kims: kk great
jessica.kims: checking right now
jessica.kims: thanks so much,just went through the mail
nursecc79: im a lil concerned about the payment I have never bought something like this unless it was through paypal there is no guarantee that we will receive the puppy after we western union the money
jessica.kims: OMG
jessica.kims: What do u mean by this?
nursecc79: Just saying that we dont know each other there are a lot of scam artists out there so we want to make sure this is legit we are not trying to lose any money
jessica.kims: I totally understand your skepticism but i can assure you that you will be getting the puppies no matter what you already have in mind. Also, i feel very bad when you say all this when i know you will be getting the puppies home. Please don't let your feelings to make you lost what you have planned to get for the past months.
jessica.kims: As i earlier told you, i am a woman of my words and a Christian and i can never think of ripping you out of your hard earn money in the name of fraud, may God forbid me if plan to do this to a fellow human being like myself, i will like to treat others just the way, i will like them to treat me in return. So please don't be carried away by little things that will not solve the problem and the stage which the puppies are. I was not planning to make the puppies stay sad and i have been feeling bad because i knew what next is for you to be skeptical but i can give you more words and assurance that you will be getting the puppies once we settle everything up.

nursecc79: really r u serious just found your scam online u have done this before I am far from a dumb person and you really need to quit this now I am reporting you with your email address and everything i now have saved on my computer you and your husband who the scam is under will be caught eventually be lucky that i didnt send you the money I would not take being scammed lightly you dumb ass bitch
nursecc79: am sadly another victim of this fraud.

It started when I found this Pomeranian (very adorable) being sold for $300 AU.
http://www.simpletrade.com.au/pets/dogs ... /800278124

I thought that was extremely cheap as usually they range between $800 - $3000. I didn't want to ask the seller why it was so cheap as I thought that would be rude, so as the ad specified to email the seller if interested, I did so (seeing the ad had only been posted about a month ago).

The email was to: [email protected]

The recipient of this email address replied to my initial query by saying the puppy was still available! (What luck!)
But I noticed every time we corresponded he/she never closed the email with their name. (That's not very business like...) But it didn't click with me y
nursecc79: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=24044&p=66873
nursecc79: you are on the web here is your web site remember its 2011 dumbass people can find anything about you
jessica.kims: Crystal??
nursecc79: yep I use my real name cause im not a scam artist
jessica.kims: what do u mean?
jessica.kims: I dont understand u
jessica.kims: can you please talk to me?
Last message received on 9/16 at 7:01 PM
nursecc79: yeah come meet me at my house and we will talk

Welcome to ScamWarners nursecc79. It is great that you found this was a scam before you sent any money. You posting will help others who might be in a similar situation.

For the future, we do not like to see victims or potential victims pointing scammers to this site. Some times it helps educate the scammer and some times the scammer becomes abusive to the victim who stopped the "transaction".

We appreciate your detailed information regarding this scammer.

Hi nursecc79,

Wow am I glad I posted what I had to help you... Thanks for sharing your story with me. I noticed that your female scammer wrote English very well up until the end when it started getting desperate and then it sounded like a Cameroon all over.

I want everyone to know that after reporting the scam to Western Union they were able to refund my money (except for the money transfer fee of $35) because the "recipient" hadn't picked it up yet. So I was very very lucky.

We live and learn.

Great! That's the only way of getting your money back from Western Union. It's rare though because scammers usually collect the money before the victims realise what has happened.
We'd have suggested you try that, but I didn't realise from your first post that you had only just made the payment. How long was it between paying and getting your money back?

On the day that I paid it, I realised the scam because "Venture Pets" emailed me that night.
So I complained that night to Western Union via there website (meanwhile emailing my scammer too and saying I'm going to report him to the Federal Police).
Western Union got back to me within 2 days notifing me by email that the money hadn't been picked up so they went ahead and arranged the refund for me. I picked up my money again on that day, so all up the process was 3 days.

What a great outcome! Western Union will work with victims if there is any way they can, meaning the money has not been picked up.

Hi

I've encountered over 6 Scammers in one night. i live in australia, i was looking for a female pomeranian. i sent emails to about 6 or 7 people, they ALL wrote basically the exact same thing in the email. they all just happened to be far away from me, and wanting to frieght to my "door step" lol. i did do the smart thing and i googled every single email i wrote too, and yep i found them all to be scammers, selling on about 20 sites each. like 8 kinds of puppies, birds, cats etc. so here are a few emails that are scammers of puppies :

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

somehow in all their emails there were Alot of similarities, no names, no addresses, no phone number, all happen to be in another state studying, all write in the same format ( looks like cut and paste ) the puppies already have been given names, they are all 12 weeks old. in every email, all have been vacced and microchipped etc. ( yet they are selling them for 100~400 dollars some even free! at the price of shipping. ) they all ask questions like the following :

i will like to ask you some questions?
Where are you located?
Are you buying them for breeding?
Will you be taking just one or Both??
Will you prefer the Male or Female ??
Are you okay to have them delivered over to your home ??
As soon as you get back to me with the answers, i will send you some
recent pictures of them and also give you some more little details
about them. i will be looking forward to read back from you.
thanks and waiting

they dont speak english Properly, NONE of them do. they all give away free stuff ( supposedly ) and last of all, most of them have to give their dogs away due to their children having a disease or dying.

i suggest buying from someone you can personally meet. i got my first pom for $400 but i know it wasnt a scam since i met the person, in person. i was lucky not to get scammed. but make sure you speak to them on the phone! no emailing! pictures for dogs that are lower than about 1000 are NEVER professional photos like you usually see in scamming emails. and NOONE would deliver dogs to your doorstep for under 500+ dollars. lol make sure you google every person you enquire to.

Welcome to Scamwarners.
That's good advice, although speaking to the "seller" on the phone is no proof of a genuine transaction. Some scammers will communicate with victims that way, especially if pretending to be in the UK using a free 4470 number.

People using these accounts are definite scammers:

[email protected] (used the name "Ngyah Jasper" to try to get me to pay money through Western Union)

[email protected]

[email protected] (scammed my friend, hence why i became a scam baiter and tricked him for nearly 3 weeks - he also uses a fake shipping agency to support him - their email is
[email protected]). They used the same excuse, that you had to pay through Western Union because their company is being audited etc.

Same characteristics: stolen images of cute puppies off the net, their ads say they're somewhere in Australia or your state but when you ask to meet up with them to see the puppies they have some kind of excuse, eg they suddenly moved away to the other side of the country, or are away on a business trip for a long time. They will insist on using Western Union, have poor English and tend to ask a lot of questions in their first email as listed in one of the previous posts. They also tend to like making up dramatic stories about why they are giving their pets away - eg it was his recently deceased daughter's puppy and he could no longer bear to have the Pomeranian around as a reminder. He even had the nerve to ask me to send him an extra gift for his daughter's grave (this was 'breederakong' - Akong Bondis) along with the payment. Three of these guys were all from Cameroon as well and listed their ads on the Simple Trade website.

I nearly got scammed by similar tactics. Simpletrade ad offering bulldog pup for free. Usual deal, originally advertised in Sydney, now in Darwin. Owner has to leave country blah blah blah. He called himself Josh Morgan and used [email protected]
Received this email from his so called transport co:
*PRO PET TRANSPORTS SHIPPING COMPANY.*

*GOOD DAY,
*
This is an important Notice about your Male and Female English Bulldog
puppy booked to be delivered over to your home today the 4st September
2012. Everything is set for the Puppy to leave for destination.

Please verify and correct your below address if there are any mistake but
if not confirm the address so that we can forward to you our payment
details in order for us to buy the ticket and ship with the next available
flight

VISIT OUR WEBSITE ON: http://www.fastwayshipping.co.cc, click on our tracking
page, once the page is open, click on the link that concerns you(*Male English Bulldog Puppy Shipment)

Code for your shipment

user name: *246549567417*

Password: *maleenglishbulldog*

We wait to read from you as to proceed with the shipping of your puppy.

*Best Regards
Maine Richards
Maine Richards
Delivery Dept
F.W.Shipping INC
Costumer resource number:
0023779254268*

I smelt a rat and ignored this email. Then I got another email from "Josh" asking why I haven't paid. And I explained why. The last two emails from Josh, he used [email protected] which he claimed was his wife's email address.
I have now spent a bit a time reporting every dodgy ad I can find on Simple Trade to their administrator. I've found that googling the image often brings up very interesting results.
I just hope that I saved someone from being scammed by these scumbags.

Hello dave1234 and welcome to scamwarners.
Thanks for posting this information as it will help others avoid this scam.

The tricky scammer acaually has two web sites

http://www.fastwayshipping.co.cc
http://www.fastwayshipping.yolasite.com

776 North Terminal Drive, RICHMOND VIRGINIA, United States,

UK Kirkwall, Orkney, Orkney Islands KW15 1TH,
call 07023093890

Strachan Street Hobart International Airport Cambridge Tasmania 7170. Australia
Call +61-386521953

E-mail: [email protected]

Both websites are in the process of being reported for fraud.