There area lot of scams out there, and the latest includeswebsites pretending to sell pets that don’t actually exist. Before you buy a pet online, make sure tovet thewebsites to loweryourchancesfrom getting your wallet emptiedand heart broken.
Look out for suspiciously low prices
Scammers want to get your attention, and one way they standout from the crowd iswith prices that will make you look twice. Since they don’t really have pets and aren’t actuallycompeting in that market, they’llset prices ridiculously low. If it looks too good to be true, proceed with some extra caution.
Dead links to social media pages
Most websites have an “About Us” sectionthatshares information about the business and highlights its staff, and most of thefake websites also have them too—complete with logos on theirFacebook, Twitter, orLinkedIn. But those logosmight just redirect back假网站的主页,or the social medialogos might not actually hyperlink to anywhere at all. Some advanced fake websites will go through the trouble of creating fake social media profiles,but they’re usually easy to spot as fake—look for thin,inactive pages.
They ask to pay with Zelle or other similar apps
Payingfor anythingwithZelleis extremely risky, and you shouldnever do itwith people you don’t know. The same can be said about peer-to-peer Venmo transactions, PayPal Friends and Family, and any other form of payment that doesn’t have a way to be reimbursed if something goes wrong. If your sellerisinsistenton using those forms of payment instead of something moresecure—like PayPal Goods and Services—considerita clearred flag.
Always google the business first
Always search forthe name of the business,followed by the word“scam” or“reviews.”The first search result will usually be the main website, but thesites below itshould highlight whetherthere arevictims and what their experience was like. Of course, keep in mind that there’s a different between a bad customer experience and an actual scam.
Pet Scamshasa databaseof fraudulent pet websites, too. The directory is extensive but by no means complete, so look at aroundatsimilarsites likeScam Adviser,Website Validator, andURL Voidtoo.
Use theBetter Business Bureau Scam Tracker
TheBetter Business Bureau (BBB) Scam Trackeris deeply underrated. You can search any website and see if anyone has reported it to the BBB as potentially being a fraud. You can also read their stories of how they got scammed by the business. Just search the name of the business on thekeywordtool bar.
Check to make sureyourtracking number is real
Be wary of third-party shippingsites thatseem sketchy. Mostfraudulent petsites will have a sistersite that pretends tooffer pet delivery, and some even go as far as providing a tracking number. Most of themask for weird requests,like paying for a specific petcarrieror paying extraforvaccine records and other ownership documents.Neverpay for anything until you have a tracking number that you’ve verified with reputable carriers like UPS, FedEx, or the USPS. Don’ttrust a tracking number link—instead,typethe tracking number on the mail carrier’sofficial website.