Henderson, NC — A North Carolina grandmother lost over $5,000 trying to get a new puppy for her grandson.
Katherine Smith, from Henderson, said she was lured into the scam after seeing a post on Facebook advertising the sale of purebred Yorkshire Terriers. He wanted to get one for his grandson who he raised after he lost his mother.
“It was going to be for him, for him to have something to hold on to,” Smith recalled.
Smith contacted the seller on Facebook Messenger and the seller claims the Yorkie is registered with the American Kennel Club.
To get the puppy, the seller instructs Smith that he must buy a $525 gift card.
“I have to take a photo of the front and back of the card and receipt, and then I send it to him,” says Smith. After paying the money, the seller told Smith that he would need to pay more for the puppy's checks, vaccinations, and other items. “They told me I needed to buy the crate for $500 to ship it and then after I shipped it, then, of course, they came back and said we needed $1,200 in insurance to cover it.”
In total, Smith sent out $5,000 worth of gift cards to merchants and shipping companies. He eventually got an email and a text message containing a live tracking map of when the pup would arrive.
But the puppy never came.
Instead, the seller just wanted more money, and that's when Smith realized he had been conned.
“I couldn't believe I fell victim to it. It was my entire savings account. It was all I had,” Smith told Troubleshooter Diane Wilson.
Smith is not alone. By 2022, according to the Better Business Bureau, consumers lost more than $1 million due to pet fraud. The agency estimates that more than 80% of sponsored links for selling pets on social media may be fake.
Smith has filed a police report and reported the fraud to the FTC. She said she shared her story to help others avoid not only financial trouble but emotional heartbreak.
“Don't do this unless you can go and see her beforehand. I trust this woman; she keeps texting me that she is a Christian and that she would not do this to my little grandson. She wants to see him happy and he can't wait for me sending a photo of when they actually delivered the pup.”
To avoid being scammed, don't get lured by cute pet pictures. Scammers often steal the pictures from legitimate breeder websites. Also if the price of a puppy starts to get too good to be true, that's another sign that it's a scam. Anytime someone asks you to buy a gift card and takes a picture of the number on the back and sends it to them, that's a scam. Once you do, the money will be drained from the gift card.
Also, remember animal shelters are filled with pets looking for nice homes, you can adopt too.