{"id":87665,"date":"2017-05-12T06:49:58","date_gmt":"2017-05-12T11:49:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=87665"},"modified":"2017-05-12T06:49:58","modified_gmt":"2017-05-12T11:49:58","slug":"ohio-a-g-has-tips-to-avoid-puppy-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2017\/05\/12\/ohio-a-g-has-tips-to-avoid-puppy-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"Ohio A-G has tips to avoid puppy scams"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Submitted information<\/em><\/p>\n<p>COLUMBUS &#8212; Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine warns consumers to beware of online puppy scams, where sellers take money for puppies they never deliver. Con artists post pictures online advertising desirable breeds and then never provide the puppy.\u00a0The Ohio Attorney General\u2019s Office has received about 40 puppy scam complaints in 2017, with an average reported loss of about $600.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_52811\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-52811\" style=\"width: 175px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-52811\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Mike-DeWine-headshot-200px-6-2014.jpg\" alt=\"Attorney General Mike DeWine\" width=\"175\" height=\"275\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-52811\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Ohio A-G\u00a0Mike DeWine<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cCon artists are very good at what they do,\u201d Attorney General DeWine said. \u201cThey lure people in and then demand more and more money. Someone might pay $400 for a puppy, but then the con artist comes back and says there\u2019s also an $800 crate fee. The person is already invested in the puppy and is more likely to pay. That\u2019s why education and prevention are so important.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a typical puppy scam, a consumer finds an ad for a puppy online and wires a few hundred dollars to have the puppy delivered but never receives the pup. The ads often are found on websites offering a specific type of dog, such as a Teacup Maltese, Shih Tzu, or Pocket Beagle, and the site\u2019s name may include words like \u201cadorable pups,\u201d \u201ccutest puppies,\u201d or the name of the supposed breeder. Phony ads also may be posted on Craigslist or social media sites.<\/p>\n<p>Consumers who pay once generally are contacted again and asked to pay more for seemingly legitimate costs to cover shipping insurance, crate fees, or other charges. In some cases, if consumers refuse to pay, the con artist threatens to turn them in for animal abuse or neglect.<\/p>\n<p>Signs of a puppy scam include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A seller who requests payment via wire transfer or money order.<\/li>\n<li>No in-person communication between the seller and the buyer.<\/li>\n<li>Too-good-to-be-true prices, such as $500 for a puppy that normally would cost $1,000.<\/li>\n<li>Pictures of the puppy appearing on other websites when the images are searched online.<\/li>\n<li>A seller with a poor reputation or no reputation.<\/li>\n<li>A seller who threatens to turn in the buyer for animal neglect or abandonment.<\/li>\n<li>In addition to advertising puppies, con artists also may pretend to offer kittens, parrots, or other pets. Generally, they communicate with the consumer via email, phone, or text, send pictures of the animal, and ask the consumer to pay using wire transfer or money order.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--more-->Tips to avoid the scam:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Research breeders and sellers carefully.<\/strong>\u00a0Check complaints filed with the Ohio Attorney General\u2019s Office and the Better Business Bureau, and review feedback from other customers. Be skeptical if you find no information; some scam artists change names regularly to trick consumers. If possible, work with a local, reputable organization.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Never purchase a pet sight-unseen over the internet<\/strong>, especially from an individual who requests an \u201cadoption fee\u201d or \u201cshipping fee\u201d via money order or wire transfer. To help detect a possible scam, conduct an online image search of the puppy\u2019s photo to see where else the picture is posted on the internet. (Search \u201chow to search by image\u201d for help determining how to do this.) If the same picture shows up in multiple places, it could be part of a scam.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Visit the animal in person.<\/strong>\u00a0If you choose to purchase a puppy, visit the breeder in person. Ask many questions. Ensure the breeder has individual veterinary paperwork for the puppy on the letterhead of his or her veterinarian, and consider calling the veterinarian to verify the relationship. Obtain proof of purchase with the breeder\u2019s full contact information on it.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Consider adoption from a local animal shelter<\/strong>, where the entire family can meet and interact with an animal prior to adoption.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Watch for red flags.<\/strong>\u00a0Beware of offers that are too good to be true, sellers who require payment via wire transfer or money order, requests for extra costs for airline pet insurance or a temperature-controlled crate, unexpected delivery problems requiring additional payment, or threats that you\u2019ll be turned in for animal abuse or neglect if you don\u2019t pay.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Report potential problems.<\/strong>\u00a0If you suspect a scam, contact the Ohio Attorney General\u2019s Office. If you suspect animal cruelty, contact the seller\u2019s local animal control agency or the humane society. The Humane Society of the United States has a puppy mill tip line at 877.MILL.TIP (877.645.5847).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Consumers can report scams to the Ohio Attorney General\u2019s Office at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/links.govdelivery.com\/track?type=click&amp;enid=ZWFzPTEmbXNpZD0mYXVpZD0mbWFpbGluZ2lkPTIwMTcwNTEwLjczMjE2OTYxJm1lc3NhZ2VpZD1NREItUFJELUJVTC0yMDE3MDUxMC43MzIxNjk2MSZkYXRhYmFzZWlkPTEwMDEmc2VyaWFsPTE3MDQ5OTM3JmVtYWlsaWQ9ZWRpdG9yQHRoZXZ3aW5kZXBlbmRlbnQuY29tJnVzZXJpZD1lZGl0b3JAdGhldndpbmRlcGVuZGVudC5jb20mdGFyZ2V0aWQ9JmZsPSZtdmlkPSZleHRyYT0mJiY=&amp;&amp;&amp;100&amp;&amp;&amp;http:\/\/www.ohioprotects.org\">www.OhioProtects.org<\/a>or 800.282.0515.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Submitted information COLUMBUS &#8212; Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine warns consumers to beware of online puppy scams, where sellers take money for puppies they never deliver. Con artists post pictures online advertising desirable breeds and then never provide the puppy.\u00a0The Ohio Attorney General\u2019s Office has received about 40 puppy scam complaints in 2017, with an [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 00:34:32","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87665\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}