Puppy scams are a lot more common than many dog lovers imagine. Thousands of dog fanciers have been lured with internet photos of cute puppos, only to end up getting cheated out of their hard-earned money.
While the numbers keep shifting, Better Business Bureau (BBB) estimates that pet scams constitute a whopping 35% of all online shopping frauds. The vast majority of internet pet scammers target puppies, underscoring the significance of due diligence while shopping for a new pup.
Besides, these fraudsters are no exception to dog breeds. Every breed, including adorable teacups, is fair game.
Fortunately, it’s not all doom and gloom for would-be pet parents. There are obvious red flags to watch out for while shopping for teacup pups online.
Here are various tips to avoid getting scammed.
1. Prioritize Local Breeders
Before you go shopping for a teacup puppy online, try checking out local breeders.
There’s always a reputable breeder offering healthy teacup puppies sale in your town. These facilities should be your first port of call when seeking to adopt a teacup pup (or any other dog breed for that matter).
Besides breeders, you could also scour local pet shelters for a teacup puppy. Just be sure to request relevant documentation if buying a teacup from a pet shelter home or rescue center.
2. Ask For a Virtual Meeting
Scammers naturally dread virtual meetings.
Whether it’s a regular phone call or video conference, fraudsters understand that having direct communication with their would-be victims might dangerously expose them. That explains why chatting remains their favored means of communication.
To be safe, insist on meeting a potential teacup seller in a video call before going ahead with the negotiations.
3. Proceed To a Physical Meeting
In this age of artificial intelligence (AI), it can be challenging to ascertain whether the entity on the other end of a virtual call is a real human or a mechanized bot. Therefore, follow up a successful virtual meeting with a physical meet-up.
A scammer would immediately decline a physical meeting or deploy stalling tactics to dissuade you from arranging one.
Either way, that’s your cue to call off any further engagements.
4. Meet the Person With the Dog
Some online teacup fraudsters may consent to a physical meet-up just to convince you that they’re legit. But without actually seeing the pup, you could still be playing in their hands.
Ensure the breeder shows up with the very teacup they posted on the internet, along with proper documentation.
It’s also prudent to tag along with a trusted friend or relative. Otherwise, you could still walk right into a dangerous trap.
5. Visit The Breeder’s Physical Address
Any online teacup seller would have a brick-and-mortar location. Head to their ‘Contact Us’ page and check their physical address, then visit the facility to ascertain that it exists.
Note that some teacup scammers may assume the identity of reputable breeders and even claim affiliation with renowned pet organizations like the American Kennel Club (AKC).
So, once you find the breeder’s purported physical location, establish if they’re associated with the website.
6. Ask Important Questions
Posing relevant questions to the supposed breeder can also help you escape potential online teacup scams. Ideally, the seller must possess basic information about teacups.
Start with regular questions like how teacups are bred. Then, inquire about the breed’s nutritional needs and personality traits.
What are their likes and dislikes? Are teacups great for kids and other pets? Do they bark a lot? What medical conditions are they most susceptible to?
Pay keen attention to how the individual responds to these questions. Mechanical replies might indicate they’re either researching the answers on the go or crammed everything just recently.
7. Check for BBB Listings
Better Business Bureau has sections that compile a list of blacklisted pet sellers. Head to these pages and establish if a website has been flagged as a scam.
Besides BBB, dozens of blogs are dedicated to warning would-be teacup owners of online pet scams. Check if the breeder’s name has popped up on these listings.
Another excellent strategy is to run a direct internet search of the breeder’s name alongside the words “scam” or “legit. If the site has defrauded enough victims, you can expect scam alerts to pop up on search engine result pages (SERPs).
8. Invest In Online Reviews
Analyzing reviews from previous online teacup buyers is critical, even if you’ve already hunkered down on a potential seller.
First, check if the entity is an outright, high-level scammer. That’s to say, they take your money and then vanish into thin air. You certainly want nothing to do with such individuals.
Next, look out for middle-level scammers. These are fraudsters who deliver a teacup after a transaction, but the pup you get is a far cry from the online listings.
The last category is breeders who score deplorably low on trust and overall customer care. For instance, some companies may take forever to deliver your teacup pup even after making payments.
Final Word
Bringing a teacup puppy home can feel like ushering an extra ray of sunshine into your life. But without proper safeguards, you could lose your money to online teacup fraudsters and (worse yet) have your sensitive personal information slip into malicious hands.
Fortunately, you don’t have to become a statistic. Simply keep the above tips in your back pocket whenever you go shopping for a teacup pup on the internet.