We drove hundreds of miles to adopt our new $300 Yorkshire Terrier dog — we ended up with a completely different result
A Florida FAMILY drove to Kentucky to pick up their new family member, only to be left heartbroken.
Lillian Cardin and her family decided to welcome a pup into the herd and put up theirs hearts on a Yorkshire terrier.
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She came across a post on social media featuring the perfect pup.
Cardin immediately contacted the seller through the social media site and paid the $300 bail.
After paying, the couple then arranged to meet outside a pet shop to deliver the puppy.
The excited family made the 14-hour drive to Kentucky.
Cardin told Local 10: “I told him an hour before (the agreed meeting time) that we stopped to stretch our legs.
“I said the GPS says an hour away.”
The man replied, saying “Okay,” and according to Cardin, “That was the last call. So he made us drive all the way to Kentucky.”
The devastated family had to make the long drive home without their beloved pooch following the scam.
Luckily, the family found their new best friend in Fort Myers.
While licensed breeders and sellers use the internet to match furry friends with their new enthusiastic owners, scammers are also making the most of dog eyes and tricks to scam buyers.
Puppies are often the source of these scams, but AARP fraud expert Amy Nofziger told the Detroit Free Press that buyers of all animals are at risk.
She said: “We have victimized every animal under the sun that anyone has attempted to procure as a pet.
“Not a day goes by that we don’t get a report of some kind of pet scam.”
The expert has seen scams involving puppies, kittens, monkeys, iguanas, horses, raccoons, and even “a flying squirrel.”
Scammers observe which breeds or animals are popular and promise a good price.
They also use “emotionally affirmative language” to trick the buyer into believing there is a connection with the pet in the photo.
Nofziger contacted a cat scammer to investigate and immediately received pictures and a message that read, “Of course he’s the cutest cat you’ve ever seen.”
Terms like “baby” and phrases like “the animal already loves you” are part of this “emotionally affirming language” the fraud expert notes.
“They use that language to get you hooked,” she said.
Fraudsters have also taken advantage of the conflict Ukraine to excite the hearts of buyers to urge them to adopt abandoned pets.
Pet scams accounted for 35% of online shopping scam reports sent to The Better Business Presidency in 2021.