Editor’s note: it’s hard to imagine a responsible breeder selling one of their precious dogs to a Nigerian outfit that offers a price that’s “too good to be true.” In this case, rather than generosity and trust being what causes dog sellers to be taken advantage of here, greed seems to be the operating principle.

George W. Cannata

The swindlers have invaded the pet industry in a new variation of the Nigerian Scam. Scam artists are employing the Nigerian Scam to fleece unwary sellers who advertise pets for sale.

This is particularly despicable, because not only are people losing their money, but dogs are being abandoned in freight terminals or being killed to get rid of them.

Unsuspecting dog breeders have been caught off guard by these now well-advertised scams, as complaints are still numerous. These are usually high value dogs, so the losses are often substantial.

These thieves are very clever and are well prepared. They have fine tuned this system of fraud, so it’s easy for the unwary to be duped. They’re extremely persuasive and carefully execute their plans.

Unfortunately it’s virtually impossible to catch them as they operate from overseas and are expert in covering their tracks.

Their method of operation is to claim that they are from some foreign country and they want to buy the item you have for sale, whether it’s a car or a dog or some other relatively high value item.

They tell you that someone in USA owes them money and that they will send you a check for an amount far in excess of your asking price. They don’t haggle over the price and in fact, offer a bonus. You are supposed to cash the check, then send them a money order for the difference.

The problem is that the checks are counterfeit, but so well done that bank tellers can’t detect that they’re bogus. If you’ve sent the money when the check fails to clear, you are responsible, not the bank.

I read a recent article by a reformed con artist who claims that Americans are stupid, just waiting to be fleeced. This is not true. The problem is that we are the most generous, trusting people on earth, consequently we are often easy prey for these despicable predators. I think this is particularly true of animal lovers who just don’t anticipate this kind of behavior.

We have to learn to become more wary and know how to combat these thieves. “Caveat Emptor, let the buyer beware.”

For more information on this subject visit: http://www.caveatemptorus.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Written by: George W. cannata, Author and publisher of the web site http://www.caveatemptorus.com;

A shopping guide/ fraud digest web site.

The author is a retired manufacturing executive with many years experience in procurement.