URGENT HELP NEEDED- International Puppy Shipping

Factual Questions
1

I am writing for a friend of mine, and I am afraid that I know the answer already.

She was DESPERATE for a Yorkie puppy, and being a college student, couldn’t afford to pay a big price for one, and found an ad in her local paper (Indianapolis IN) for a puppy that the owner was just wanting to find a loving home for and was willing to sell for $230, which Sally could afford. The catch: This puppy was in CAMEROON…and the $230 was SUPPOSEDLY for her plane ticket to Indianapolis.

I tried to talk her out of this, it felt WRONG to me from the start, but she had her mind made up, and sent the money via Western Union. The puppy was supposed to be sent this afternoon, BUT she recieved a phone call from the Cameroon airport saying they had run tests on the puppy to make she she was healthy, and she had to pay for these tests BEFORE they would ship her out… another $319. I asked what tests… I have never shipped a puppy anywhere, so I have no idea what is needed. She forwarded me the e mail she got from the ‘airport’ and it set off all KINDS of alarms for me. Here it is:

----- Forwarded message from Douala Int Airport
<webmaster@doualaintenationalairport.zzn.com> -----
Date: Fri, 3 Nov 2006 18:54:33 +0100
From: Douala Int Airport <webmaster@doualaintenationalairport.zzn.com>
Reply-To: Douala Int Airport <webmaster@doualaintenationalairport.zzn.com>
Subject: YOUR PUPPY(YORKIE)AT OUR AIRPORT
To: sstryker@

THIS IS CAMEROON AIRLINES(DOUALA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT)WORKING

                 COLLABORATION WITH AIRFRANCE

DEAR SALLY STRYKER:

WE HEREBY TO INFORM YOU THAT WE ARE IN KEEPING OF A YORKIE PUPPY NAME

KATE IN TRAVEL CRATE NO: 013 FROM ONE MRS JESSICA ROBERTS THAT HAS

ALREADY BEEN BOOKED A FLIGHT TICKET HEADING YOUR ADDRESS:

NAME:SALLY STRYKER

ADDRESS:AIRPORT OF RECEPTION:Indianapolis International Airport.

THE YORKIE PUPPY IS IN GOOD HEALTH BUT AS THE RECENT INTERNATIONAL

POLICY ON PETS IMPORT DEMANDS, A TEST HAS TO BE CONDUCTED ON THE

YORKIE PUPPY PRIO TO ENTRY INTO THE USA ,IN ORDER THAT THE YORKIE

PUPPY DOES NOT GO INTO QUARANTINE.THIS TEST HAS BEEN CONDUCTED AND THE

YORKIE PUPPY IS FREE FROM ANY COMMUNICABLE DISEASE LIKE

MUMPS,RUBELLA,MEASLES.THE CAMEROON AGENCY HAS PAID FOR THE TEST AND

NEEDS RE-IMBURSEMENT NOT MORE THAN 5HOURS FROM NOW SO THAT THE YORKIE

PUPPY DOESN’T MISS THE NEXT AVAILABLE FLIGHT TO THE USA SCHEDULED FOR

TODAY 3RD NOVEMBER 2006 OR GO THROUGH QUARANTINE.

THE COST OF THE TEST IS $319.00 CONTACT OUR CASHEIR AND SEND HIM

THE MONEY ON TIME SO YOUR ORDER BE DELIVERED TO YOU EARLY MORNING

SATURDAY 4TH NOVEMBER 2006.

BECAUSE OF THESE INCONVINIENCES THAT HAS OCCURED. PLEASE, THIS NEED

TO BE TREATED AS URGENT AS POSSIBLE BECAUSE THE YORKIE PUPPY MIGHT BE

RETURNED TO IT’S AREA OF TRANSPORTATION.

THESE ARE THE DETAILS YOU WILL USE FOR WESTERN UNION MONEY TRANSFER.

SEND TO:AKONWIE KINGSLEY(CASHIER)

COUNTRY: CAMEROON

CITY/TOWN:DOUALA

TEST QUESTION:WHERE IS KATE?

TEST ANSWER:CAMEROON AIRLINES

SO TRY TO SEND US THE DETAILS OF TRANSFER, THAT IS, 10 DIGITS MTCN

NUMBER AS SOON AS POSSIBLE SO WE CAN BE ABLE TO PROCCESS THE FLIGHT

GIVE YOU THE DETAILS EARLY THIS AFTERNOON YOUR TIME.THANKS VERY MUCH

AND WAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU SOON.

OR MORE INFORMATION,CONTACT

TEL:(+237)5497282

OR (+237)9229014

FAX:(+237)3361951

SINCERELY,

LANGMIA SANGTUM

ANIMALS DEPARTMENT,CAMEROON AIRLINES

DOUALA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

I am certain she is being scammed, and will never see that $230 OR the puppy. Dogs do not GET Measels or mumps, so WHY would this puppy be tested?

Please, please… if anyone can help, let me know!!

2

It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see that your friend is being scammed.

3

Yep. Pretty basic. Please don’t let her send more money.

4

When I said “Pretty basic.” I didn’t mean to imply anything about your friend / make her feel stupid. I just meant it is a pretty run-of-the-mill scam dressed up as a puppy sale. Just letting you know so as not to offend.

5

Poor thing. No, there probably never was a puppy. I didn’t know this had become a scam. I checked snopes, but not a thing - what an unusual circumstance. Please stop her from sending anymore.

6

I just Googled “puppy scam cameroon”. She’s not the only person who’s been hit by this.

7

She is being scammed big time!

Source: Division of Global Migration Health | CDC

8

Oh, if only it were that easy. I tried DESPERATELY to talk her out of sending that first red dime, and she basically blew me off, saying she had made up her mind on it already and she wanted THAT puppy. I DON’T think she is going to send the $319, but I also don’t think she’ll be getting her initial $230 back either. Hella expensive lesson for the kid. :frowning:

9

Measles, mumps, rubella?! Somebody needs a lesson in doggy diseases vs people diseases!

If they had said rabies, distemper, and something-else-doggyish (sorry, I’m not a vet) they might have sounded a little less goofy, but I still would have been suspicious.

10

There were 100 reasons this was a bad idea, but here’s 101:
Do you really think an airport would extend credit to an unknown person for the purpose of running medical tests on that person’s animal? Bear in mind the ‘tests’ just ‘cost’ 30% more than the merchandise being used as security is worth.
Even in the US, I’d be less surprised if they shot the dog as a terrorist than if they extended you credit.

11

So, human primates as pets are ok??? :confused:

12

It’s a shame your friend fell for this but it’s still possible for her to get a Yorkie.

Have your friend visit PetFinder.com - they list shelter dogs all over the country. You can search by breed, age, sex, location, etc. to find dozens of Yorkies in the Indianapolis area. They won’t necessarily be free. She’ll probably have to pay a shelter fee but that varies from shelter to shelter.
http://www.petfinder.com/

There’s also a few rescue organizations specifically for Yorkies. These groups work to find homes for Yorkies after their original owners have to give them up. Again, they come in all ages and sizes. Google Yorkshire Terrier Rescue for a list of them.

Yorkies are neat little dogs but too many people get them because they’re cute and then don’t want to have to put time into them. They’re still dogs that need walking, grooming (lots of grooming!), training and exercise. Your friend will have no trouble finding a Yorkie waiting to be rescued right in her backyard.

13

Hard to tell if it is a scam or not. If you get this in the mail, however, I think you should not ask any questions. Won’t someone think of the puppy?

14

On the other hand, $230 is nothing compared to the overall cost of raising a puppy… I’ve paid more than that for a single visit to the vet.

If you still need to talk her out of it, tell her to look up the phone number for “Cameroon Airlines” from a more reliable source, and try to reach the correct person from there. Hopefully your friend will discover that the story doesn’t check out.

15

Thats a very valid point. Doesn’t sound like your friend can actually afford to have a dog anyway. Cost of buying, even an expensive dog, is nothing compared to costs of keeping them.

16

On the other hand, they raise some mighty cute Yorkies in Cameroon.

17

All good points ranging from the obvious, to financial and medical… I’ll say something from the I.T. angle:

Firstly, ‘webmaster’ is a reserved account for the guy maintaining a domain. There’s no way the ‘ANIMALS DEPARTMENT,CAMEROON AIRLINES’ would be mailing from it.

Second, the domain isn’t the airport name there, it’s the ‘zzn.com’ part, a free website/email service. I can set one up for playboymansion.zzn.com right now if I want, but it’s not going to get me flirty girls any more than it got that guy 747s and a dog in a crate. Take a look - he didn’t even try to make the website look legit, it’s still the default webmail login.

If your friend persists, the dog will escape and need $473.00 to be rescued from the local pound, then chew up the crate and get sick needing $632.00 in medical bills, etc. etc. Perhaps your friend could report this to Western Union and keep any more people from sending money to the same address, but from everything I’ve read she’s out $230 for good.

18

I suppose if it would make your friend feel better about being screwed out of $230, point her at one of those websites showing a Nigerian scammer victim who is out 10s of thousands of $$$s.
I’m surprised those people even bother with a $600 scam like this, although I can’t prove that she wasn’t going to get another email from “JFK Airport Puppy Security” demanding Puppy Tariff payment.

19

Hi,
I wanna start by saying that i take responsibilities for my actions.I have done things im not proud of and im jst trying to make things rite with man and with God. I Google my name and i found this page. so i had to register and apologize . I was selfish, greedy, wicked, self centered and wicked to have done what i did.
Im now a student pastor in a bible school and i realize the paths i had taken where not good.I really do apologize from my heart. Im sorry.
I will be looking forward to reading from you.
Have a blessed day.

20

Too bad “THAT puppy” doesn’t exist. Here’s my message to your friend:

You have just spent $230 in tuition for Lesson One from the School of Hard Knocks. Lesson Two is now being offered for $319. I’m sure Lessons 3,4, 5 etc. are available. What you will learn, if you haven’t learned it already, is that you will never – I assure you, absolutely never – see this puppy, because there is no puppy. There’s only a greedy jerk trying to see how much of your money he can fool you out of. So, have you learned your lesson, or would you like to say goodbye to another $319?