Scam alert: Fido and Fluffy don't really exist

A new nationwide study published by the Better Business Bureau says online pet scams are rising at an alarming rate. The BBB says thousands of customers are being scammed every year by con artists who post photos of adorable puppies and kittens.

INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) — It only took Karla Russell a few hours to know she had been scammed.

When her Persian cat died earlier this year, Russell quickly set out to find another. Her daughter picked out a white kitten online. Her name was Bella.

"My daughter fell in love with her, and she goes "Yeah, that's the one I want," Russell recalls. "The picture is what got us, so I called right away."

The seller played hard-to-get — asking the Tippecanoe County mother a series of questions to prove she was qualified to own a Persian — before agreeing to sell the kitten.

He offered to ship Bella on the next flight from Baltimore Washington International Airport. The kitten would arrive in Indianapolis that same night. All Russell had to do was wire $550 in cash to the seller.

Russell was suspicious. After all, she had not met the breeder and had never bought a pet on the internet.

"I was getting a little nervous, and I said 'This is a scam, right?' They said 'No. Relax. We're looking for a flight. Please have all the confidence in the world this is not a scam and you will be receiving your kitten ASAP,'" said Russell, reading a text message conversation she had with the seller.

That's when Russell went to Western Union and wired $550 for her new kitten. Then the text messages stopped.

Bella never arrived.

"At that point, I knew I had been taken," she said. "Bella did not exist. They broke my daughter's heart."

Thousand of victims

Russell is not alone.

A new nationwide study published by the Better Business Bureau says online pet scams are rising at an alarming rate. The BBB says thousands of customers are being scammed every year by con artists who post photos of adorable puppies and kittens.

The BBB says experts believe at least 80% of the sponsored advertising links that show up when users search for pets may be fake.

"They're playing with your emotions," said Tim Maniscalo, who runs the Better Business Bureau of Central Indiana. He says complaints about online pet sellers are becoming far too common.

"These are just scams that have great websites, great pictures, and a great story to tell you. Then the string of lies start," he explained.

The websites look real. But consumer watchdogs have identified hundreds of online pet sellers that are fraudulent. Their pets -- with cute names like Bobby, Clara, Sunshine, Riley and Zeus -- are simply scams.

13 Investigates found the exact same pet photo frequently appears on multiple scam websites.

In fact, months after Russell was scammed by someone claiming to be in Baltimore, WTHR found photos of "Bella" in multiple online ads, claiming the kitten was in Detroit, Atlanta, Boston and New Orleans.

The Better Business Bureau says many of the scam sites actually originate overseas in places like Africa. The report notes that many fake sites have tied back to the country of Cameroon.

Investigators say the people behind the fake ads simply use "spoofing" software to make their phone numbers appear to be in the United States, and they want payment up front. Once you wire that money, it's gone forever.

Most victims lose $100 to $1000, according to the BBB, but some victims are out thousands of dollars.

"Once it goes outside the country, it's very difficult to trace that and very difficult to get that back," said Maniscalo. "You can pretty much guarantee you won't get it back."

The BBB says many of the fake ads offer breeds that are the most popular and hardest to find. The non-profit website petscams.com keeps a running list of questionable sale websites, and they tallied which breeds were most popular earlier this summer. Tops on the list — Yorkshire terriers, Pomeranians and bulldogs.

How to avoid the scam

Russell now wants to warn others. She wishes she has trusted her instincts.

"I'm not one that's usually gullible like that," Russell said. "You assume people aren't going to take advantage of you, but I guess there are people out there who do."

Russell insists she will never make the same mistake again. She recently purchased another Persian kitten online, but this time she drove 6 hours to see the cat in person -- before she handed over any money.

"Don't ever exchange money until you have an animal or your merchandise in your hands because you can get taken just like we did," she said. "Lesson learned — hard way — but lesson learned."

The BBB agrees with that advice, and offers the following tips for online pet buying:

• Never buy a pet without first seeing it in person. If a pet seller will not allow you to see the animal before you purchase it, look elsewhere. Reputable breeders and sellers will welcome your questions and be more than willing to allow you to see the animal before you buy it. A photo of a pet is not a pet -- it's just a photo. Insist on seeing the real thing.
• Never wire money for a pet. That is a huge warning sign of a scam, and if something goes wrong, you can't get your money back.
• Be your own pet detective. Take a close look at the cute photo you see online. Copy and paste the photo into an online image search (such as Google images). If the picture appears dozens of times in multiple places and on multiple websites, the photo may have been stolen from a legitimate website and is now being used to sell a bogus pet that cannot be delivered. Unique pictures that do not show up in an image search are more likely to represent real animals that are actually for sale.

An even safer bet to avoid online pet scams: purchase from a local breeder that you can visit or adopt from a local humane society.

If you do become the victim of an online scam, report your experience to the FBI, the Indiana Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau. We have links and contact numbers on the right side of this page.

If you sent money via a direct transfer, contact the company directly. Contact information for several companies are listed above.