{"id":221314,"date":"2022-10-24T12:49:34","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T02:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.petcloud.com.au\/d\/?p=221314"},"modified":"2022-10-27T14:34:44","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T04:34:44","slug":"puppy-scams-and-breeder-identity-theft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petcloud.com.au\/d\/blog\/puppy-scams-and-breeder-identity-theft\/","title":{"rendered":"Puppy Scams and Breeder Identity Theft"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last year Australians lost over 3.5 million dollars to online pet scams as three intersecting threads of pandemic culture resulted in the perfect storm: a huge increase in demand for pets; lock downs, which prevented people from meeting breeders in person and relying on a third party to deliver their pet; and more fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Furthermore, the price of pets skyrocketed and scammers were looking for new and better ways to cash in. They needed to fool even the most cautious puppy buyers &#8211; those who might look for and check credentials \u2013 so breeder identity theft also hit new heights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether you\u2019re a puppy buyer or a breeder, it\u2019s important to know how you can protect yourself, your money and your identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What is Breeder Identity Theft?<\/strong><br>Breeder identity theft occurs when a scammer uses a breeder\u2019s details, information and\/or photos to create fake online advertisements. They will:<br>\u2022 use Photoshop to adjust a photo of a registration card<br>\u2022 create an email address using the breeders prefix<br>\u2022 provide the breeder\u2019s phone number for verification purposes, and then elect not to display it<br>\u2022 and even build a near exact copy of a legitimate breeder\u2019s website and Facebook pages complete with photos, litter information, the breeders name and address, everything. Stolen, copied and up on a new website &#8211; complete with an online payment portal. Scammers submit their ads to as many online platforms as they can, most of which are published without review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"940\" height=\"788\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/puppy-scam.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-221383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/puppy-scam.png 940w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/puppy-scam-300x251.png 300w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/puppy-scam-768x644.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/puppy-scam-590x495.png 590w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/puppy-scam-799x670.png 799w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/puppy-scam-577x484.png 577w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/puppy-scam-600x503.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 940px) 100vw, 940px\" \/><figcaption>Image: French Bulldogs are one of the top 3 breeds found in fake advertisements &#8211; the puppy never belonged to the scammer and was never in their care.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While the number and impact of scammers grew during COVID, they\u2019ve been at it for a long time. <a href=\"https:\/\/perfectpets.com.au\/\">Perfect Pets<\/a> is an Australian owned and operated online pet directory that has had processes in place to screen out scammers since launching a decade ago. Fortunately, these processes stood up to COVID madness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The platform lists rescues who have pets for adoption, and also registered breeders and more. When it comes to breeders, Perfect Pets works closely with registering bodies to ensure that new account applications are carefully verified.  This is critical to ensuring the site remains secure and safe from scam activity and is part of an ongoing effort, because small changes in the online space can have a big impact, and fast. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Monitoring scam activity is critical and Perfect Pets has seen scammers moving into other parts of the pet industry. In the last six months fundraising scams, via fake veterinary websites, have started to appear. The Australian Veterinary Association have been made aware and are understandably alarmed. It\u2019s important we are all vigilant and use a combination of good old fashioned teamwork and cooperation as well as the best and latest technology to keep up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Breeder Verification Scam<\/strong><br>Breeders are also vulnerable beyond the online space as scammers may target them directly. One breeder was contacted by a &#8220;prospective buyer&#8221; who told her that she\u2019d been previously been a victim of a scam and said she needed a photo of the breeder\u2019s driver\u2019s licence and registration to proceed with purchasing a puppy.  The unsuspecting breeder then emailed the photos through, and before long, her information had been used in countless scams where her name, business and photos were used to trick people. Apparently many of them actually turned up at the breeder\u2019s house to collect their puppy, only to be told they\u2019d been scammed and should contact the police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Below is an example of the type of selfie and passport a scammer might ask a Breeder for. They then use this for future scams or sell it off on the dark web.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"251\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/identity-scam-300x251.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-221380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/identity-scam-300x251.png 300w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/identity-scam-768x644.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/identity-scam-590x495.png 590w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/identity-scam-799x670.png 799w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/identity-scam-577x484.png 577w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/identity-scam-600x503.png 600w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/identity-scam.png 940w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption>Scammers buy and sell Passport Selfies on the dark web with editable Photoshop templates<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The Puppy Transport Invoice Scam<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"205\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/scam_-300x205.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-221375\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/scam_-300x205.png 300w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/scam_-768x526.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/scam_-590x404.png 590w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/scam_-577x395.png 577w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/scam_-600x411.png 600w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/scam_.png 939w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption>The scammer will always live remotely and will say they need you to pay for transport &#8211; (for a puppy that was never in their care as they stole the pictures).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-medium\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"143\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/invoice-scam-300x143.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-221376\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/invoice-scam-300x143.png 300w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/invoice-scam-768x366.png 768w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/invoice-scam-590x281.png 590w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/invoice-scam-577x275.png 577w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/invoice-scam-600x286.png 600w, https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/invoice-scam.png 939w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption>Scammers will go far to create fake transport invoices<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Responsible Buyers<\/strong><br>In the last 10 years Perfect Pets has put a lot of effort into trying to educate the general public about how important it is that they only buy from responsible, registered breeders. It\u2019s now evident that there\u2019s another message that we all need to get out there &#8211; Pet lovers need to become responsible buyers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>There are a number of reasons that scammers succeed:<\/strong><br>\u2022 People looking for pets are often <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">impulsive<\/span> and <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">impatient<\/span> \u2013 they want their pet now, or yesterday, and will often buy a puppy from wherever they can find one.<br>\u2022 People are prepared to pay very high prices for pets: $10,000 &#8211; $15,000 is not at all uncommon and typically for cross-bred dogs from inexperienced, unregistered breeders, where there\u2019s been no health testing or other measures to ensure the well being of the puppy. Paying these prices just encourages greedy and unscrupulous people to get involved and cash in. Puppies listed on Perfect Pets average from $2000 &#8211; $5000 and this is for a well bred, fully health tested pedigree puppy from fully registered ANKC breeder.<br>\u2022 People aren\u2019t taking advice and making sure that the \u2018breeder\u2019 they are talking to is a legitimate breeder, let alone registered and responsible.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What to do if your details have been used by a scammer?<\/strong><br>Report it to the Australian Government&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scamwatch.gov.au\/report-a-scam\"><strong>Scamwatch website<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maria Arnold from Perfect Pets says they always let breeders know if accounts applications are submitted that are fraudulent and have used their details, and to date not a single scammer has had an account approved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;While we\u2019re happy with that record, we do know that if scammers are submitting fake ads to us, they\u2019re usually posting them on other online sites that <em>don\u2019t verify<\/em> credentials.&#8221; Furthermore, Arnold says; &#8220;We always send breeders the details that have been submitted and then they are in a position to take all\/ any of the following steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Call the scammer and pretend to be enquiring about a puppy.<\/strong> They usually want email communication only, but sometimes they will answer the phone. Get as much information as you can, where are they (ask if you can visit), do they need a deposit (they will), so organise to get the bank account details, and importantly, work out if they are here in Australia. A lot of the scammers are from overseas, but there\u2019s a lot of Australian scammers too. If they are in Australia, you should contact your local police. In our experience you can be lucky, or unlucky, with the amount of help you get, but it\u2019s always worth reporting. From our side we can, and have, picked up location information from our website and shared it with the police to help track down scammers.<\/li><li><strong>Send a cease and desist email. <\/strong>Also inform them that you\u2019ve notified authorities with all of their details, including their location (determined from their activity on the internet).<\/li><li><strong>Check other sites that run pet ads. <\/strong>See if you can find ads for your prefix and breed. Not many are thorough with verification, some do no checks at all. If you find that your details are being used, contact the website and ask them to remove it immediately, and let them know that the police have been informed.<\/li><li><strong>If you have an online presence, let people know what you do and don\u2019t advertise. <\/strong>Some of the breeders on our site have a message saying: \u2018\u2019we only advertise on perfect pets and dogzonline,\u201d others go into more detail, for example\u2026. \u201cPlease note: We do not advertise on other platforms. If you see advertisements elsewhere using our photos, description, our registered prefix, or our breeder registration number, you are probably looking at potential imposters and scammers. If you have seen anything like this please contact us via Perfect Pets to ensure you are contacting us and not scammers.\u201d <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Any Breeders who\u2019d like another avenue to connect with pet lovers that is secure, and exclusively Dogs Australia Breeders can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.perfectpets.com.au\/user\/register\/registerAccount\">join the Perfect Pets website here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Or, if you\u2019re looking for a pet and want to connect with registered breeders via a platform that is secure \u2013 check out <a href=\"https:\/\/perfectpets.com.au\/\">Perfect Pets<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Share this article with friends and family and your local facebook community group to help drive awareness.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Read more on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.petcloud.com.au\/d\/blog\/puppy-scams-that-will-break-your-heart\/\"><strong>How Puppy Scams work<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last year Australians lost over 3.5 million dollars to online pet scams as three intersecting threads of pandemic culture resulted in the perfect storm: a huge increase in demand for pets; lock downs, which prevented people from meeting breeders in person and relying on a third party to deliver their pet; and more fraud. Furthermore, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":221388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3788],"tags":[3865],"class_list":["post-221314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-puppy-scams"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v27.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Puppy Scams and Breeder Identity Theft - PetCloud<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Don&#039;t fall victim to Puppy Scams or Breeder Identity Theft. Here&#039;s our safety tips when buying a new puppy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.petcloud.com.au\/d\/blog\/puppy-scams-and-breeder-identity-theft\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Puppy Scams and Breeder Identity Theft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Don&#039;t fall victim to Puppy Scams or Breeder Identity Theft. Here&#039;s our safety tips when buying a new puppy.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.petcloud.com.au\/d\/blog\/puppy-scams-and-breeder-identity-theft\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"PetCloud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/petcloud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-10-24T02:49:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-10-27T04:34:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\/d\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/25085837\/puppy-scams.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"567\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deb Webber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deb Webber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BlogPosting\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.petcloud.com.au\\\/d\\\/blog\\\/puppy-scams-and-breeder-identity-theft\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.petcloud.com.au\\\/d\\\/blog\\\/puppy-scams-and-breeder-identity-theft\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Deb Webber\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.petcloud.com.au\\\/d\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a25168ba84bd9530585d9235882ea787\"},\"headline\":\"Puppy Scams and Breeder Identity Theft\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-10-24T02:49:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-10-27T04:34:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.petcloud.com.au\\\/d\\\/blog\\\/puppy-scams-and-breeder-identity-theft\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1414,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.petcloud.com.au\\\/d\\\/blog\\\/puppy-scams-and-breeder-identity-theft\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cdn.petcloud.com.au\\\/d\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/10\\\/puppy-scams.png\",\"keywords\":[\"puppy scams\"],\"articleSection\":\"Pet Care\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.petcloud.com.au\\\/d\\\/blog\\\/puppy-scams-and-breeder-identity-theft\\\/#respond\"]}],\"description\":\"Last year Australians lost over 3.5 million dollars to online pet scams as three intersecting threads of pandemic culture resulted in the perfect storm: a huge increase in demand for pets; lock downs, which prevented people from meeting breeders in person and relying on a third party to deliver their pet; and more fraud. 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