Very Confused about this scamming thing.

i recently received an email from a man by the name of Frankline West. He said that he was from Michigan and that he was going to send me a Yorkie puppy. He claims to be sending the puppy through Animals Away but on their website it said to watch for scammers. Here is the only problem. All the warnings clearly state that all scammers ask for money to be transferred via western union or money gram, Mr. West has not asked for any money to this point. But seeing all these warnings about scams just makes me question Mr. West. Is there any way to know if I'm being scammed or not?
Thank you.

Hi springgurl and welcome to ScamWarners.

We would love to help you figure this out. Puppy scams are quite common. But to help you, we will need a bit more information from you.

You mentioned a website. Can you give us the name and URL for it?

And please post up the emails between you and Mr. West. Just edit out your email address and any other personal details, we do not need or want those. Headers with the emails would help locate where Mr. West is sending the emails from. If you don't know how to get the headers, just tell us what email provider you are using (gmail, hotmail, yahoo, etc) and someone can help explain how to retrieve them.

Is this the ad? http://www.adpost.com/us/pets/64626/

Is this the person? Clicky
[i]

That is the posting that i saw. And he has never mentioned anything in our emails about money. But he just now emailed me saying that there are problems mailing the puppy.
Here is the emails.

they have just mailed me that they are facing problem with their mail
service so they wanted to forward the mail to me so i can send it to
you but i have given them my wife's email address so my wife will
help forward the mail to you her name is luttcien moore

On 7/24/09, Frankline West <[email protected]> wrote:
> have they contact you because they just did so to me via email
>
me-
>> thank you
>>
>> xxxxxxxxxxxx
>>
>> --- On Thu, 7/23/09, Frankline West <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> From: Frankline West <[email protected]>
>> Subject: Re: Yorkie puppies

>> Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009, 3:45 PM
>>
>> ok
>> let me see what i can do
>>
me-
>>> is there any way to call the company as well to see about when and what
>>> time
>>> the puppy will be getting here?
>>>
>>> xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>
>>> --- On Thu, 7/23/09, Frankline West <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>> From: Frankline West <[email protected]>
>>> Subject: Re: Yorkie puppies

>>> Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009, 3:17 PM
>>>
>>> ok
>>> just keep be inform about every thing that goes on so i can help
>>> direct you direct you
>>>
>>>ME-
>>>> They just sent me an email as wellIt said that I had to confirm my
>>>> mailing
>>>> addressI replied to their email with confirmation of mailing address
>>>>
>>>> xxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>
>>>> --- On Thu, 7/23/09, Frankline West <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> From: Frankline West <[email protected]>
>>>> Subject: Re: Yorkie puppies

>>>> Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009, 3:05 PM
>>>>
>>>> they just send me a mail that they have contact you so confirm some
>>>> thing but you have not
>>>> please idf you have not seen their mail then please kindly check your
>>>> junk , spam or your bulk mail folder to see the mail .thanks i will be
>>>> waiting to hear from you
>>>>
>>>> On 7/24/09, Frankline West <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>> no i have given them all the papers and every information they need to
>>>>> know
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>ME-
>>>>>> do i need to tell them anything in particular when they contact me?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> xxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --- On Thu, 7/23/09, Frankline West <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> From: Frankline West <[email protected]>
>>>>>> Subject: Re: Yorkie puppies

>>>>>> Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009, 2:08 PM
>>>>>>
>>>>>> i am back from the delivery agency
>>>>>> every thing is fine they said they will contact you
>>>>>> please do let me know when they do
>>>>>>
>>>>ME-:
>>>>>>> I am on my computer and next to my phone as well if needed
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> --- On Thu, 7/23/09, Frankline West <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> From: Frankline West <[email protected]>
>>>>>>> Subject: Re: Yorkie puppies
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009, 11:49 AM
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hello there,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> thanks for the information. I would take the puppy to the
>>>>>>> delivery
>>>>>>> agency right away and it would take me 45minutes to get there. Just
>>>>>>> stay on you Computer because they would have to contact you or call.
>>>>>>> Just be on the alert. Thanks very much and please do take care of
>>>>>>> shady for me and do send me pictures of him with his new family when
>>>>>>> he arrives.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>

>>>>>>>> --- On Thu, 7/23/09, Frankline West <[email protected]>
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> From: Frankline West <[email protected]>
>>>>>>>> Subject: Re: Yorkie puppies
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009, 11:21 AM
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hello there,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> thanks for getting back to me. I have attached the pictures of
>>>>>>>> the
>>>>>>>> mail puppy to the other mail. He is called shady. California is
>>>>>>>> very
>>>>>>>> far from me. I am
>>>>>>>> located in Michigan and that is very far from you. Personally, I
>>>>>>>> would
>>>>>>>> love to have hand over Shady to you, but you are so far away. I
>>>>>>>> wonder
>>>>>>>> if you would be able to make it to Michigan to collect Shady. But
>>>>>>>> If
>>>>>>>> you cant, we can use a courier delivery agency which would bring
>>>>>>>> Shady
>>>>>>>> right to your door step as they offer a home delivery service. I
>>>>>>>> would
>>>>>>>> also have to make the change of ownership papers, in this case, I
>>>>>>>> would need the following information from you:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Your full name.................................
>>>>>>>> Home address.................................
>>>>>>>> Zip code.........................................
>>>>>>>> Phone numbers...............................
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> As soon I get the above mentioned information, I would make the
>>>>>>>> change
>>>>>>>> of ownership papers and then take Shady to the delivery agency for
>>>>>>>> immediate transportation and delivery to your home. I would be
>>>>>>>> waiting
>>>>>>>> to read from you soon.
>>>>>>>>

Mod edit: removed poster's name -Jillian

Before I even read anything, springgurl, please edit your post and take out all your personal information. We don't need it and we certainly don't want anyone else getting your information.

ETA:

Ok, taking a look at your emails, I am pretty confident I can tell you this probably is a scam. I don't understand several things; why would this person have an advertisement for dogs, claiming to be in San Deigo, but then telling you they are in Michigan? And why does this person have so many dogs for sale? A reputable breeder usually only deals with one or two breeds at a time; more than that makes me think of a puppy farm. (That is if there are even really dogs.) And why was there money mentioned in the ad, but you weren't asked to pay for the dog?

I don't see in your email exchange where Animals Away was mentioned. But I am willing to bet that isn't the 'courier' they would be using. Notice that though this person has not asked for money for the shipping, there are already 'problems' with the shipment. This is inevitably something that needs 'fees' to be paid, and by YOU. And now, you don't have anyway to contact the shipper but through the 'wife's' email?

All way to suspicious. Just from this, I would feel pretty confident in saying this is a scam and there are no puppies. This person will just end up needing you to send some 'fees' via Western Union or Money Gram to them directly or to the 'shipper', which will be the scammer. The only thing you should do at this time is just stop dealing with this person. Just tell them you are no longer interested and have found a dog close to home. Then delete any new emails. Since you have given them some personal information, I would monitor it closely, but not worry too much about it. A scammer only wants your money; once they know they won't get it from you, they will move on.

I edited it and took out all of MY personal information.

Sorry, springgurl. I was editing my post as you were editing yours. I think you might want to take out your name also.

100% scam--I work in the animal community and make it a point to keep on top of the animal scam world, and this is a pretty common scam scenario these days. Even without the Michigan thing and the shipping "problems" a quick review of this scammer's ads on adpost say it all.

1)The prices in this person's ads are completely ridiculous, not just for the yorkie, but for all of the breeds (they claim the huskies come from champion bloodlines--which would make the price even higher) . You are not going to get a yorkie puppy or a pug puppy from any breeder, even a puppy mill, for $100 unless it has serious defects!!
2)one of the yorkie pictures is stolen from an online pet photo album. The other photos are undoubtedly stolen from the net too, but I don't have time to trace them right now.
3)

"Two Gorgeous Siberian Husky puppies/Babies are ready for a loving and caring homes. Very socialized. Shots up-to-date, Family raised & spoiled rotten. ]25-35 lbs. full grown.

On the moon, maybe--here on earth huskies are about 20 pounds heavier. Typical scammer who copies and pastes ads but doesn't actually know anything about the dogs. Scammer copied and pasted from this (yet another scam) ad below but didn't know enough about the breed to change the weights:

Two Gorgeous English Bulldog Babies are ready for a loving and caring homes. Very socialized. Shots up-to-date, Family raised & spoiled rotten. 25-35 lbs. full grown. AKC Registration, vaccination & de-worming documentation Most of our puppies are Champion sired, English bloodlines with World & International Champions in their pedigrees. They are all Purebred English Bulldogs. We offer 1 year guarantee on all our puppies. Contact us at Email [email protected] for more information.

4)Perform a google search for this phrase and see how many ads come up: "Pups should be in the 6 lb range the perfect size for a family companion"
5)Let's look at their lab ad:

Beautiful perfect Labrador retriever pups! Puppies will be 8 weeks old and ready for new homes on/after July 23rd. Small, hypo-allergenic. Pups should be in the 6 lb range the perfect size for a family companion. The puppies will have had the age appropriate vaccinations and proper worming before going to their new homes. We give a 2 year health guarantee and life time support on our puppies. We do require the puppies be spayed/neutered. Please feel welcome to call or email for more information

Once again it is a copy of the yorkie ad, once again the scammer has no clue as to how much a lab should weigh (about 10 times what they are claiming).

Oh, and looking at the "wife" name, this is one of many ads that comes up. So he is selling puppies from San Diego that are really in Michigan, and his wife is selling puppies in Australia??

Healthy chihuahua puppy

we are a family dedicated for breeding puppies .
we want to give out our lovely puppy .
the 2 puppies lola and emma are 11 and 14 weeks old respectively .
we are looking for some one who can take very good care of the puppy
please if you are interested contact .
we pray you be he right person .
our regards


Related Link : (None)
Target Nation: Australian Capital Territory
Target City : All Cities
Last Update : Jun 01, 2009 02:24:48 PM
Ad Owner Name: luttcien moore
Contact Phone: (None)
Contact Email:
Number of Views: 10

Please just drop this scammer and move on, and realize that any ad offering a yorkie puppy for under $400 is very likely to be a scam.

100% scam, probably from Cameroon.
Poor use of upper case.

the 2 puppies lola and emma
Ad Owner Name: luttcien moore

Strange names.

luttcien moore
Frankline West

If you have any doubts, ask the "seller" if the dogs have had swine flu vaccinations (needed due to the current pandemic). He'll say "yes" without hesitation.

Strange names.

luttcien moore
Frankline West

If you have any doubts, ask the "seller" if the dogs have had swine flu vaccinations (needed due to the current pandemic). He'll say "yes" without hesitation.

Yes the names are very strange - so strange in fact that there is not a Frankline West in Michigan or California. Although luttcien moore claims to be in Australia, I also checked that name - there no one by that name in the entire USA. And anyone can check: http://www.zabasearch.com - its only for searching the USA.

And as Arnold mentions, do ask the seller if the dogs have had some vaccine (make a name up for extra laughs). It could be a scammer from Cameroon although Nigeria is a possibility.

But as Dotti and Arnold have nicely outlined this is 100% scam.

Just as an aside, I have never bought an animal without seeing it first or collecting it personally. And I wouldn't trust any seller prepared to sell one without meeting the prospective purchaser.