Pets For Sale? Look Out For Scams

By: Lisa Hare

Our technological era has opened up a new world of business opportunities for those willing and able to advertise and sell products online. But cyberspace has also afforded scam artists a whole new playing field and weapon of deceit to use against potential victims -- many of whom call America's heartland home.

"This never happened to me in Florida," said Cindy Brown, a former Florida resident now living in Yankton who has been selling Pomeranian puppies through classified ads for the last 25 years.

"Every time I've run an ad (in South Dakota), I've gotten these (scam) calls," she said.

A recent news release from the South Dakota Attorney General's office warned of an ongoing cashier's check scam. Crooks pulling the scam -- often preying upon people advertising puppies or some other valuable item for sale -- will issue a fake cashier's check which appears to be authentic and may actually include a legitimate U.S. bank and routing number, but in many cases is issued from a foreign country.

"People can print out anything from their computers these days," Brown said, adding that most of the scam artists play on people's sympathies and trust -- traits often attributed to rural-dwelling people.

"The farmer that's selling puppies from his hunting dog probably isn't on guard for this type of thing," she said.

A typical cashier's check scam works like this:

Someone selling something over the Internet or through the classified ads in a newspaper receives an e-mail offer or a call through a relay service for the hearing impaired-- the buyer promising to pay by cashier's check. The check arrives, but it is made out for several hundred -- or sometimes thousands -- of dollars more than agreed. The buyer then asks the seller to send back the difference, usually requesting the money be wired. The seller's bank accepts the bogus cashier's check, credits the account and the seller then wires the extra money back to the buyer. But then the cashier's check turns out to be counterfeit and the seller loses the money that was wired, and oftentimes, the product that was sold. The money is gone and untraceable.

"These cashier's checks look so authentic that many banks cannot determine if a check is fake until several days or weeks later," said Attorney General Larry Long.

"They've usually got some convincing reason why they're sending the extra money," said Sara Rabern with the South Dakota Attorney General's Office. "They'll say it's to cover shipping charges or courier expenses, or something."

Rabern added that the attorney general's consumer division receives numerous complaints on this kind of scam each week.

"Sometimes we'll get several in one day," she said.

Rabern said though the Federal Trade Commission is working to crack down on these types of scams, the perpetrator are difficult to trace since all business is done over the Internet and no real addresses or phone numbers are used.

"One of the things we always tell consumers that call in is absolutely never give out personal information and beware of cashier's or certified checks -- especially if they're asking you to wire money back to them," Rabern said. "We've worked closely with the South Dakota Bankers Association to educate consumers and tellers about these bad cashiers checks."

But the scams aren't always run from the buyers' end.

"I get e-mails almost every day from people posing as advertisers with something to sell -- oftentimes, puppies," said Tyler Van Zee, classified manager for the Press and Dakotan.

"They never have an address or phone number, just an e-mail address," he said, adding that people wanting to deal strictly over e-mail are usually a tip-off that it's not a legitimate advertiser and they probably don't have anything to sell, but are wanting to obtain banking information from their victims.

"We're a local paper," Van Zee said. "Many times if they list a P.O. box from some other state, or the zip code doesn't match the state they claim to be from, I know it's a scam," he said.

Van Zee said it's unfortunate that the scams are becoming so prevalent, and that they prey upon people's sympathies and trust.

"It makes me angry that (the scam artists) are taking advantage of good-natured people," he said.

Brown said in the last two years, she's become more wary of relay calls.

"I've learned that there are usually red flags," Brown said, explaining that if the person refuses to give a phone number or asks for any personal banking information, or doesn't bother to ask any questions about the puppy they supposedly want to buy, it's probably not a legitimate buyer.

"I caught on to one scam with this last litter I was selling," Brown said. "The relay call came, as if it was a deaf person who couldn't use the regular phone system. They said they wanted to deal over e-mail with me and I agreed. When I e-mailed them a picture of two of the puppies from the litter, I immediately got this page-long response -- faster than humanly possible to type -- and it said, 'Yes, I want the puppy, I'm so thrilled, etc.'

"That was red flag," Brown said. "They didn't even say which puppy they wanted, and didn't ask if it was a male or female or if it had had its shots."

Brown said as soon as the issue of the courier delivery of a cashier's check came up, she told the buyer she would deliver the puppy in person.

"We never heard another word from them," Brown said. "And within about two hours, that e-mail address no longer existed."

Long warned that for consumer protection, no one should wire money to an unfamiliar source, ever.

"(The money) is untraceable and you will never see it again," he said.

South Dakota consumers or businesses with questions or concerns about this type of scam should contact the Consumer Protection Division at (800) 300-1986.