Free English Bulldogs

Hi I got an email and fell for it, thank goodness I didn't send money. I 'Googled' pet scams and sure enough I found a lot of information leading me to believe that this was a scam. Here's the following email. What mad it believable was that it was in my local newspaper. Here's the following email:

Hello,

Thank you very much and i'm very very happy to read from you about your response on taking good care of the babies. they are 10 weeks old and both home trained and outdoor trained also playful with other animals and kids. Dora weigh 10 Pounds and Eva weigh 12 Pounds and will weigh big when fully grown. they are both A K C registered and shots are given up to date and both home trained. both of them are my darling sweetheart and super spoiled! They both have a sweet personality and loves to play and be carried around.

But i'm very sorry to tell you that it is too late for you to get the babies now. What really happened was that i just left the state for Africa in some few days ago after i posted the the ad on the newspaper and before i left, i did not get any response from anybody that could take very good care of them for me. So i got a missionary call from our missionary headquarters in Africa, then i have to bring the babies along with me here in Africa since i couldn't find someone to adopt them before i left the state.

I'm still willing to give the babies out to someone who can take very good care of them for me forever. All papers will accompany the puppies when shipped to you, Due to our long staying over here in Africa, and the bad weather my Wife and I have concluded to get good home and care for our babies. We are not charging or selling them to you for money but to save their life's saved and care for them so this means that, you and i will be paying for the shipment of the puppies to you. they are VET checked, but right now we are in Africa on a Christian mission with my wife and 3 kids together with Dora and Eva,
we have the puppies right here with us.

We are going to ship to you via a Dispatch Courier Service Company with Express Delivery on next day delivery, if you are really interested in having my little babies, i want you to get back to me with your full Name , Home Address, direct contact phone number and name of the nearest Airport to you. Please if you know that you are not capable of taking very good care of my babies, do not reply me because i am giving them out because of bad condition and we're
spending months for the Christian mission and i don't want Dora and Eva to die in this bad weather. And because we don't have time to take care of them due to the missionary work before us here. They are priceless to me,therefore i am giving both for free, so i will like you to get back to me with the Above information i can find out shipping cost to your Nearest Airport, and we both responsible for the shipping cost

I've attached pics of Dora and Eva.
Thank you and God bless you and your family.

Regards,
Yours in Christ.
Robin Evans.

This was sent by [email protected]....
If you could confirm my doubts, thank you very much.

You are correct. It is indeed a scam. The writing tells me that the author is African, not surprising since this particular scam format usually originates in Cameroon or another African country.

The scammer has no puppies at all. The photos are stolen from the internet, usually from a bulldog breeder website.

Scammers often use bulldogs in their scams because the breed is very expensive--but the truth is, they are expensive for a reason, and that is not going to change. ANY owner trying to find a home for EB puppies would have NO problem finding one, and if they were so concerned about finding the right owner they couldn't find anybody they liked at home, they certainly wouldn't be shipping them to strangers they have never met.
But, even if that were true--there are very strict laws regarding transporting pets across country lines, including some extensive quarantine requirements. There is absolutely NO way that 10 week old puppies could be sent to Africa and back without significant expenses, vet certification, and/or a long quarantine period.

I personally have been involved in pet rescue for over 20 years. In that time, I have dealt with over 100,000 shelter animals. I have seen one English bulldog in a shelter during that time. Within 2 days of her posting as available, there were applicants from as far as 500 miles away wanting to adopt her, even though she was an adult and would be spayed prior to placement so she could not be bred. ANY offer for free or very inexpensive English bulldog puppies is a scam. If the puppies existed (most often they don't) they would have significant defects and/or health problems.

Thank you Doti, I'm grateful for this website and I hope that when they see this it will show that IT IS A SCAM!!