Spotting a pet scam

How to spot a pet scam?

There are more and more pet scams online. However, scammers very often follow the same speeches and the same methods. Here are some points that will help you unmask scammers in their attempt to defraud pets.

• Very often, scammers claim a donation or a discounted price because of a transfer to another continent, or a lack of time to take care of the animal. The ads clearly say they need you to “rescue” the animal in question.
• The ad very often urges the recipient (the victim) to send money quickly. The situation is described as urgent: the transfer is imminent, for example. All of this is intended to force you to make a quick decision, on impulse.
• The photos are of high-value breed animals or animals known for their cute attractions, particularly chihuahua puppies, Persian kittens, husky puppies, shiba inu puppies, etc. The goal is to soften the victim, charmed by these cute animals.
• Check the email of your exchanges as well as the indicative code of the contact number. It seems unlikely that a company will use a free email address like Gmail or Yahoo mail for example. This means that it is probably a fake ad. As for the telephone number, if the number indicates a foreign country, particularly the African continent, be careful because many scams of this type come from Africa.
• Check the spelling of the exchanges. Scammers are known for not having a good command of the French language and many mistakes in their ads are sometimes a sign of a scam.
• Check the animal photos. You can use Google’s reverse image search to see if the images presented are not present on other websites. If the photos exist on other sites unrelated to the first, it is probably a fraudulent ad.
• Refuse to make any payment via non-traceable payment methods such as Western Union, Transcash vouchers, PCS cards, etc. Once the payment has been made, you will no longer be able to claim it! For this type of purchase, a check is preferable because you can dispute the payment in the event of a dispute.

If you recognize several of these items, it is a scam! In general, be wary of an ad that is too good to be true, it hides a scam. Don’t enrich these unscrupulous people!

Air Transport Animal is a transport service dedicated to animals, our job is to transport animals in the best possible conditions. With 15 years of experience in this field, we have a perfect mastery of health rules. Because it is inconceivable to consider animals as simple goods!

Planning to travel by plane with your pet? Contact one of our advisors to get all the answers to your questions!