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back to article 419-lite scammers target pet lovers

Email con-men are targeting animal lovers in new variants of advance fee fraud scams. Bogus offers that began circulating earlier this week typically pose as hunts for a new home for a puppy called Timi. The purported owners don't want any money themselves, or so they claim, but there's the small matter of export costs, …

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  1. Charles

    Pet Scam

    This scam has been all over Craig's List for the past 2 or 3 months, it's usually an ad for purebred bulldogs, pugs, or other expensive breeds. It seems to have dropped off lately, the CL people seemed to have caught on to the scam and mercilessly cancel the messages (animal sales are prohibited on CL anyway). So the scammers have moved on to other venues in search of new victims.

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  2. Dillon Pyron

    Travel scams, too

    I have a side business as a travel agent. I frequently get email addressed to either "Dear Sir or Maam" or "Dearest Friend Travel Agent" that want some sort of air ticketing. Usually it's from Africa (either Nigeria or Ethiopia) or from Paris or London. They want a specific route on specific dates via specific airlines. But all coach at the lowest possible rates. "Please advise me of costs tax inclusive and I will provide you with credit card information". They'll use a fake/stolen credit card and then get a cash refund for the tickets at the airport. And the agent gets stuck for the charge back. The worst part is that for the tickets, I might make $30.

    I've been playing two of them. It's a delightful way to spend a couple of hours. And when I'm done with them, I throw away the Yahoo! account.

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  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They deserve it

    Someone too stupid to spend loads of money on a *dog* deserves to get ripped off, especially as this money usually goes to feed real people.

    Only in the US people seem to have things like dog chemotherapy, pet SPA, dog hairstylists... seems like they have lots of money to spend in animals well beyond their basic welfare.

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  4. Matt

    Pet care

    Pet chemo is available in Europe too. Not too unreasonable, apart from in the UK where there isn't really a health service to speak of, so I can understand people being upset that the money is being spent on dogs instead.

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  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    re: They deserve it

    That's exactly what the perpetrators of 419 scams say.

    Although most of the 419 scams are laughable, some can be rather more sophisticated (such as the ones covered in Tony Thompson’s book, Gangs) and people have been kidnapped or murdered as a result.

    But hey, if you’re greedy, you’re just asking for it and you deserve what happens to you. By this – for want of a better word - logic, women who wear short skirts only have themselves to blame…

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  6. A J Stiles

    Pet Scam

    I'm surprised that nobody has tried to set up a "pet name registry" and charge people money for the names they want to give their beloved pooch or moggy.

    Animal names are valuable Intellectual Property, which must be protected at all costs!

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  7. Andrew Torrance

    419 Puppies

    I came up against something similar a few months ago . I was looking for a specific dog and there were dozens of people saying they could send a dog by frieght . They mostly had cameroon telephone numbers . It was sickening because they targetted my daughter with pictures of puppies .

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  8. Alan Paice

    Count your lucky stars

    They targeted your daughter with puppy pics rather than some thing much nastier.

    Like a pony that you would have to try and fork out for ;)

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