SEO Header Title

I received a call this morning (2/10/09)  from a woman selling her first litter.  She had placed an ad in the local paper.  She nearly fell victim to a relay scam.  

The basics are: 

• Contact with a TTY (phone for the deaf).
• Sending a large some in a money order, to cover shipping costs of a puppy (in this case the puppy was less than $500, and the amount sent was $1900). Request to send back "the change" after shipping costs are covered (in this case the cost of the puppy and shipping would have likely been far less than $1000, so the "change" would be close to, if not more than $1000).   
• The use of a third party in the transaction

To others reading this -- is a SCAM much like the email phishing scams you see.  Had this transaction gone through, the breeder would be out greater than $1000, and worse, a puppy.  It is called a "Relay Scam ".  They send you a worthless (counterfeit) money order, and you're out the puppy and the money.  The worst part of this scam, is that you do not know where your puppy has gone.  A *few* breeders have been lucky enough to have located their puppies, unclaimed in airports, and then paid money to ship them home.  Others have never seen their puppy again.

Here are a few links regarding these scams:

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

BE AWARE when dealing with people outside of your own area when selling puppies!  This is one reason I do not ship puppies.

This can also work in reverse... "breeders" with an ad in the paper for puppies, who will ship you a puppy when you send the fee (including shipping) in advance.  The AKC has written an article on this -- click here for that article .