Had a nice long talk with my daughter today. She told this story that happened to a peer of hers.

The guy’s Basset hound passed away a couple months ago and he was ready to get another Basset puppy. He began an internet search of breeders and settled on one from California. The website was impressive. They had a new litter and only one pup had been already taken.

The breeder sent videos of the litter, then when he said he was interested in a female, he was sent stills of all three females in the litter. Ultimately, he chose a pup and as weaning time approached, began to arrange for a flight to bring the pup to Colorado.

The guy had sent off $1,800 for the pup and soon after things came apart. Turns out everything was an elaborate scam. Research on the LLC of the “breeder” went to a laundromat in Mississippi. Sounds like nothing is being pursued criminally in either California or Mississippi.

Obviously, $1,800 is not an insignificant sum of money, but I feel for the heartache the guy must feel as well. He was invested in this new puppy much more than financially. The lesson is crooks will go to great lengths to scam someone. Best not to do internet only deals without seeing what you’re buying.

If he paid by CC, he would have 45 days to file a complaint.

That really sucks.
My mother in law is a breeder (Australian Cattle Dogs) & I'm sure stories like this make it tougher for her.

Hope he gets some sort of resolution.

Puppy scams are a major problem. People want a certain breed and are willing to pay for a puppy sight unseen.
Even with reputable breeders this is wrong.
I met both of mine dogs when they were 4-6 weeks old. I visited with them a couple of hours a week. We knew each other.
AKC has “Breeders of Merit.” There are state and national clubs that require breeders to meet standards. Just for a non breeder to join took me a year.
P250UA5 Is correct. Scammers make it difficult to trust even honest breeders.

First of all, I'm really sorry for what your daughter's friend went through. It sucks and it's heartbreaking.

With me being a cop and my wife having excellent radar, we've actually done a fair amount of background checking on the breeders and rescue places we've gotten our dogs from over the past three decades. That came about from hearing stories similar to this one.

I hope your daughter's friend is able to get reimbursement through his credit card company and start the process again.

Please keep up posted if you're able to. We all love to see swindlers get caught and prosecuted.

Terry and Ted drove 900 miles to get a dog they found on line ,
This was 44 months ago .

They just put the dog down after spending over $5,800.00 on medical issues over a two year period.

Dog was on meds starting at month 6.

The rescue dog they got around the same time , no issues at all

Sorry, but I'm really trying and can't seem to find much sympathy for these people. Paying up front in full for anything is a risk and should be avoided at all costs. In the case of this particular dog, my comments to the breeder would have been, "I'll fly in on {Date} and upon seeing and interacting with the new puppy, I'll have a cashiers check in hand for you for the full amount." If that was not acceptable, move on.

Personally, I wish your daughter would have reminded this person that dozens of wonderful dogs are euthanized daily because of a lack of good homes. And this person could have likely adopted a new pup for a couple hundred bucks, and done something wonderful for the dog. Sorry, I've had four rescues so far and will never buy from a breeder.

quote:

Originally posted by Icabod:
P250UA5 Is correct. Scammers make it difficult to trust even honest breeders.

My mil's last litter, each buyer came in person, a couple made 2-3 visits.
IIRC, they were all at least TX 'local'