Beware Of Scams When Buying A New Pet
In May of 2024 we lost Molly, a part Maine Coon cat we had for over 10 years. Molly adopted our grandson so we always referred to Molly as his cat. Molly looked a lot like Marley except Molly had a smaller tail and less orange in her.
Losing Molly was tough on the whole family, but especially our grandson.
In July Laura went on a week long vacation to a cabin overlooking a lake over by Gig Harbor, WA. We ebike, kayak, swim, have campfires and we reconnect. I love this week long vacation (last year was our 2nd year going there).
While on vacation Laura got a hair up her backside and decided to research Maine Coon kittens with the hope of bringing home a new purebred Maine Coon for our grandson.
Here lies the start of scam after scam after scam!
Laura was very emotionally committed to finding a kitten. Me, not so much which was our blessing... one of us wasn't emotional.
The first gal she ran across had her sales script down pat! Laura was hooked.
The gal wanted Laura to put down a deposit on the cat. She only provided pictures of the kitten and I was insistent upon doing a video chat to see the kittens. She had every excuse imaginable on why she couldn't do a video chat... "I'm out delivering a kitten right now," "I have to work and isn't able to do a video chat," and so on.
I told Laura no on giving her a deposit. I didn't trust her! But Laura was sold and was emotionally hooked.
I asked the woman about PayPal and she said she could do that but ONLY if it was for "Family & Friends" and not as a "Product or Service".
That created even more red flags because there are no safety nets for "Family & Friends". I did a $100 deposit as a "Product or Service" with a note on it that I was suspicious of this purchase.
She was pissed that I did it as a "Product or Service" saying they won't release the money to her. I told her they will once I confirmed to PayPal we had the product we purchased.
Now do be aware that in the midst of working this scam artist, Laura was working with two other people on getting a Maine Coon kitten. I'll address the other two individually after I finish the events of the first woman.
The first woman basically blew us off after I did the $100 PayPal down payments as a "Product or Service". She absolutely refused to do a video chat with us... a huge red flag!
After this experience Laura and I had a serious conversation and agreed no money upfront without either a video chat or being able to see the kittens in person. We made it super simple for everyone by offering to come to them whenever they wanted.
They ALL had one excuse after another about our coming to see the kittens, but they were adamant about our paying a deposit! We refused, especially since we were willing to come to them anytime they wanted. Instead, they ended all conversation with us!
By the way, when we got home to Spokane my daughter ran across a Maine Coon breeder in Spokane who had one more kitten left. We jumped at scheduling a time to see the kitten! We met the very nice lady at a store parking lot and purchased Garfield, a male Orange Maine Coon.
This is Garfield the day we brought him home...
Lessons Learned
1. First and foremost, be logical, not emotional.
They use your emotions to lock you in and to get you to do things you logically know you shouldn't do. They're masters at playing on your emotions.
If they're a legitimate breeder, they'll work with you and won't try to force you into putting a deposit down, or play "scarcity games" like saying, "it's the last one and if you want to be guaranteed to get it you'll need to put a deposit down".
They've mastered the "scam", but the key to it is invoking your emotions and getting you emotionally connected to their fictitious kitten. Be logical, not emotional.
2. Serious sellers want their kittens to go to a good home.
Of the 3 people we worked with, not one of them asked about us and our home. Their focus was solely on getting an upfront deposit. They didn't ask if we had any experience with Maine Coons, if we had other pets or anything else. Instead, they tried to get us emotionally connected to their fictitious kitten.
This was a red flag!
3. Never give a deposit that can't be refunded back to you if scammed.
Never pay a deposit that couldn't be refunded back to you if they don't provide you with the kitten, thus, to never use "Family & Friends" with PayPal, to not use Venmo family & friends, to not use the Cash App, but instead to only use PayPal "Product & Services" for a down payment.
I got my $100 back from PayPal.
Many recommend against giving any "deposits" at all.
Another one of the people trying to sell us a kitten insisted on a $300 Apple Card. Again, Laura was emotionally hooked. Laura got the $300 Apple Card, and texted her a picture of the card and the receipt.
She wanted Laura to scratch off card and text her the numbers of the card so she could use it. We refused! We provided her with proof we had got the card and that was all we were willing to do knowing that if we gave her the numbers so she could use the card we could be out $300.
When we refused to give her the numbers she ended all communication with us even though we offered to immediately drive the 8 hours to her. She clearly didn't have a kitten!
Laura got the $300 back from the card by going through her credit card company.
4. Demand a video chat at minimum!
People steal images off of the internet to sell kittens. A video chat PROVES they have the kittens. You not only can see the kittens in their environment, but you can also see momma who gave birth to the kittens.
If they refuse to do a video chat, walk away!
Also keep in mind, with AI it's super easy to create kitten images. Can even create videos of the kitten. Do a video chat so you see the kitten first hand via a video chat.
Obviously, even better is seeing the kitten in person.
5. Review their social media.
Most of the people we worked with had a social media presence on Facebook. But their accounts were relatively new. That was a red flag to me.
There were also others who had commented on their posts we contacted... none had ended up getting a kitten from them.
Do The Research
After the first woman Laura worked with and all of the red flags from working with her, I started researching "pet scams". I wanted Laura, who kept getting emotionally hooked by the people she was working with, to understand how people are scammed and how to protect ourselves from being scammed.
In the process of doing research I ran across two really good articles on how to avoid being scammed when buying a pet. I'm going to share them with you here...
These are great articles to help make sure you don't get scammed.
Our saving grace is I'm a pretty logical person. If things don't feel right or if I see red flags, I immediately step backwards and re-evaluate the circumstances. Laura admits my being logical and analytical saved us from being scammed.
In the end we got an amazing Maine Coon so it all worked out perfectly.