Confirmation that this was a scam?

My family have wanted French bulldog puppies and found some with the price way too good to be true (£250) and located near us in Cambridge. Today, the day of the 'delivery' which I have now cancelled with a very final email to them, I discovered the same email address selling a different set of puppies on another website (this is the link: http://aberdeen.global-free-classified- ... 17471.html ) AND the exact same email I was first sent from them on this very website. I have to admit I was always a little suspicious (being an English student, the poor language skills really annoyed me) but, honestly, my want for a puppy made me go into denial. The photos I received of the puppies were also VERY professional and each puppy was in a different looking location. I received the following emails from [email protected] :

(1)
Good day!!
thanks for your interest in my puppies,well to let you know i
have males and females of 10 weeks old.They are current in all
shot and are microchip,they are very loving and will bring
lots of love to your home,they also loved to be cuddle and also
love being around people most especially kids.They also love
being around other pets like cats, parrots,horses etc.They are
De-wormed and have all current papers.Now the reason why am
giving away the pups is because i have just relocated to Belfast
Ireland with the pups because i have just gotten a new job
which keeps me preoccupies and i don't have enough time to spend
with the pups because you know pups are like children they need
to be giving love and care but unfortunately for me i can't
because i spend almost the whole day at work and the pups are
just in the house all by them self.So that's why i need a family
that will show love to these pups just as they deserve love them
just as your child. So before i give the
puppies i must be fully convinced that your the right person or
the right family that will show the puppies the love and care i
have been wanting, so to see your interest in adopting the
puppies well you will
need to answer me this questions
Have you ever own this breed of puppy before?
why are you interested in this breed?
would you like to adopt both puppies or just one because i have
2females and 2 males?
And if you are interested in just one which sexe?
Is your family happy for the coming of these puppies?
would you want to breed the puppies?
would you want the puppies to be deliver to you?
because i just relocated due to the mobile nature of my job.
sorry for all the questions okay i just want to see your love
you have
to adopt the puppies.

Many thanks waiting to read from you

(2)

Hello ,
Thanks for your response. I must say that am very happy to
meet a good home for my puppy and i am very convinced that the puppy
will be well taking care of by you.I will like to add some more
qualities of the puppy that was not mention in the previous mail i
sent to you.they are house Trained .,they are socialized with kids and
other house hold pets,they get angry when you shout at them, so don't
do that,they are 12 Weeks old,they barks when they sees strangers,they
will be coming along side with all details of vaccination ,de-wormed
and microchip.Since we have made up our mind to let the babies into to
your home Can you promise me that the puppies will be well look after
and you guys will keep me update with monthly pictures so I can know
how the puppies are doing with you.I live in ((Belfast Ireland)) and will be very
happy if you can come for the view but if you guys are not so close to
me then I shall arrange for a Pet courier service and they will get
the puppy delivered at your home address that you will provide to me,
i love the service of a delivery company because they are so fast and
reliable.After the registration i will provide you with the puppy's
registration number ok.The litter of these puppies were 5 but i have
succeeded in given 2 of them and among those 2 one of them were
delivered to their new destinations by this courier service so kindly
send the delivery details as soon as possible ok. Also i shall require
all your details to do the change of ownership papers and the details
are as follow.

Full names........
House address.........
City.......................
Postal code.....................
Home number...................
Mobile number...................
E-mail address..................
will you like me to arrange the delivery tomorrow
morning............................?

As soon as i have the details ,I shall prepare the change of ownership
papers before taking the puppies to the courier company for
registration and order for home delivery to your home . Do get back to
me with the details so i can prepare the change of ownership papers
and do the delivery registration with the Carrier service .Thanks and
i shall be waiting to read from you soon.you will have to pay just £250
for one puppy and £30 for its delivery AND CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP
PAPERS , so all together
you will have to pay £280 to the Currier company for one puppy
and its delivery.And also I will send all the relevant paper works via
the Currier service. so you will be paying directly to them and not to
me.
The £280 is for the puppy and delivery. The Puppy will
come with the following papers;
# Health guarantee
# Vaccine record
# KC registration papers
# Microchip Registration
# Pedigree
# Nutrition supplement
# Traveling Crate
Regards and waiting for your kind respond

In the further emails, I was confused on how it could be a scam if I was choosing my payment method to the pet courier (scam alert- why was I so blind?) and was paying upon arrival. They said they'd call "very early" this morning once the courier was ready to begin the delivery with a tracking number etc. but no call has been made and it is unlikely now seeing as this was my final response:

I'm sorry I am not entirely sure I can go through with this delivery anymore. I have seen an extremely similar email (to the first you sent me) posted on a scam website and have also seen another dog advert from this email address on another site. I cannot imagine any legitimate reason for this.



I am extremely glad I stopped this before it was too late. Can anyone shed some light on how I would be scammed if I would be paying upon delivery? I'm utterly confused as to how this scam could have been successful with me paying after I receive the puppy and not before.

[AlanJones]

The spelling mistakes and writing style is African, so it is a definite scam.

Also, you would not have been paying "on delivery", they would have wanted the money sent by Western Union (probably to Cameroon) before the delivery was done. Can you also post the email address of the courier (if it was given to you).

Also, for future reference, please do not alert scammers to the fact that their details are posted on sites such as this - they will just change their names and email addresses and continue scamming, but the warnings posted here will be useless for future victims as we may not be aware of the new email that they use.

The spelling mistakes and writing style is African, so it is a definite scam.

Also, you would not have been paying "on delivery", they would have wanted the money sent by Western Union (probably to Cameroon) before the delivery was done. Can you also post the email address of the courier (if it was given to you).

Also, for future reference, please do not alert scammers to the fact that their details are posted on sites such as this - they will just change their names and email addresses and continue scamming, but the warnings posted here will be useless for future victims as we may not be aware of the new email that they use.

So sorry let them know about the other things I found about them! I think I was just too upset and stressed out to get the whole thing cancelled. I had asked them for the courier's details but because they didn't respond, it made me do my research on them and then cancel the delivery. I have asked the other website they have posted an advertisement on to take it down. Once again, I'm extremely sorry for alerting them about websites like this.