Clara Gere & Tom Makoye Male Maltese-Ricky adoption. Owner got new job pay only for transfer. Pay $100.00 for paper work balance at airport pick up Nationwide
Was looking to adopt a puppy. Saw add online from Clara Gere (claragere20@yahoo.com) stating she was giving her dogs up for adoption due to the fact that she had a new job. Contacted her via email a couple of time to arrange transfer. Was told that Air Animal Pet Mover Services would be taking care of transfer of puppy to Long Beach Airport. That I was to pay $100.00 for paper work and $110.00 when I picked up the puppy at the airport.
I was contacted by Tom Makoye who said he was with Air Animal who stated that addition insurance needed to be paid that if I paid the full amount Air Animal would wave the insurance fee. Which I did. I have not heard from them since. Out $210.00 and no Maltese named Ricky
Norma
DOWNEY, California
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Ann
Springfield,Missouri,
U.S.A.
I SMELL A CAMEROON SCAM!!
#2Consumer Suggestion
Tue, April 03, 2007
Boy, here we go again...wish I had a dollar for every Cameroon scam I've seen on the Internet, even dealing with puppies! If it sounds too good to believe, then DON'T BELIEVE IT! A one-way plane ticket for a pet traveling by itself is about $177-180 or more depending on size (call airlines to verify) and then there's the pet carrier cost and vet expenses for the vet health paperwork involved---required for a flight. They steal the photos of the dogs from websites and then post them, acting like they "own" the dog. Many even set up fake websites and ask for MONEYGRAM or WESTERN UNION as the only method of payment. Many say they are ministers and talk alot about their good works, volunteering for something...trying to make themselves sound legitimate and honest. Many say they are moving and can't take their dog...they are "giving it out for free" and just want the money for shipping. NOT!! Notice they use the words, "Warm regards","kind regards", "giving it out" or other words not used often by the typical American. Ask to speak to them in person...they will most likely sound foreign.
They communicate most of the time by email. You should ask for a direct phone number and then do a reverse trace on it to find out who it really belongs to---and call it! They are most likely in Cameroon, scamming by day at the Internet Cafe and then living it up in their two houses and driving three cars---all paid for by the American victims of fraud. Google search the names they are using today...if they've scammed under the aliases before, it might pop up. They do change their methods of operation constantly. Report this to the FBI just in case they are located in the United States. (Doubtful in my opinion.) Notify the website where you found the fraudulent advertising. Hopefully they'll know the IP address of the crooks and prevent him from scamming again--for a while---or at least on that website.
Find a local animal rescue or look under petfinder(dot)com in your area. Surely there are Maltese breeders in your area that will have a few dogs available. Check references...make sure they are not email addresses but actual names/phone numbers you can look up under whitepages(dot)com...in the good ol' USA! Ask a local vet for a good breeder--he should know who the good ones are---they bring in healthy puppies for checkups, not sick ones.
Good luck. With all the buzz about the scamming, you really do need to check it out before you leap. Consider it a $210 lesson in life.