Scammer Story
Recently I spoke with a heartbroken older lady who had just been scammed for $2500.
She had contacted me to buy a kitten. I told her I had a waiting list and nothing available immediately.
She called me a couple days later thrilled that she had found a kitten in another state that would be arriving the next day.
They told her it was a show kitten and a very rare color,(Blue Bi-color).
I was instantly sick inside.
I knew she had gotten scammed.
I tried for several days to help her get her money back but to no avail.
She was devastated
Don't let this happen to you.
Recently I spoke with a heartbroken older lady who had just been scammed for $2500.
She had contacted me to buy a kitten. I told her I had a waiting list and nothing available immediately.
She called me a couple days later thrilled that she had found a kitten in another state that would be arriving the next day.
They told her it was a show kitten and a very rare color,(Blue Bi-color).
I was instantly sick inside.
I knew she had gotten scammed.
I tried for several days to help her get her money back but to no avail.
She was devastated
Don't let this happen to you.
Red Flags!!!
1. Available immediately, Most breeders carry a waiting list. There are exceptions to this. Everyone on our waitlist is offered our kittens first when they are 7wks old. If they don't see the little one they want, these kittens are then offered on the website. But they can't go home till 12 wks. Some breeders post kittens at 12wks as soon as they are ready to go home. But these are by far the exception not the rule.
#6 "ways to be sure" below, tells how to tell scammers apart from legitimate breeders who don't do a waitlist.
2.Discounted price. No-one is discounting kittens these days. This is a dead give away that it is a scammer. Ragdolls are selling for $1200 and up, depending on the local. If the cattery is selling for less I would assume it is a scam!
3. Won't take calls, they only deal through emails and texts. That is usually because they can't speak English and they are running the conversation through a translator app. I absolutely wouldn't deal with anyone who won't answer a phone call.
4. Broken English or halting English in texts, emails, or on the website. google translate does a great job but never perfect. All of us have the occasional typo. It usually shows up in tenses or grammar errors.
5. Professional Photos. This isn't always a sure thing, I think my photos look pretty good. But be wary of too good of photos. I know for myself, I have kitten fatigue by the time I am done wrestling two poses with one kitten. Breeders just don't have the time to take perfect pictures. also run the photo through google search. It will show you where the photo originated from.
6. A Web address that can't be googled. Try to google the web address, if it doesn't show up it is a fake address even if it shows up in the URL when you are on their page.
7. Will ship today or tomorrow. it takes a couple days minimum to set up shipping or flights for delivery. I refuse to ship kittens. Breeders who do ship will give you all of the shipping info so that you can verify with the airlines before you pay anything. Most breeders can have you call the shipping airlines directly to pay for the shipping yourself. There are animal transport companies, you should always check reviews and research anyone who will be in contact with your kitten.
8. Will only accept payment in a non-reversible method like PayPal friends and family vs. PayPal business. There are fees associated with these protected methods of payment but I would rather pay an extra $60 then lose $1200+
9. New Scam I have seen lately The scammer takes information of potential buyers from a breeder's facebook page and then contacts the buyer posing as if they were the breeder. They offer a discount or payment method. You think you are dealing with the breeder directly. Just ask them if you can call them right back and then call back with the number on the breeders website to make sure it is really the actual breeder.
10. Watch out for kitten brokers. these people pose as breeders but they just ship kittens in from other sources and sell them.
11. Kitten Brokers. These individuals offer kittens of many ages, colors, and markings. Why is this bad, !st and foremost they are lying to the buyer.
They are bringing kittens to a central location from who knows where. They are often supplied by Kitten Mills.
How to Spot a Broker: Often the backgrounds in their pictures are all different. The adults that they have usually could not produce that many litters all the same age range, or the colors/markings they are claiming these adults have are not genetically possible from the parents they have.
Some things to ask yourself *how many litters is this "breeder" representing, *How many adults are producing these litters, * How many different styles and backgrounds are there for the kitten pictures,(If you look at my photos I have a style I stick to)
*How old are their reviews and How many google reviews do they have and over what period of time (most of the reviews for a broker will be over a couple months time not years of reviews like a reputable breeder) How many reviews have their reviewers left for other businesses. If reviews have been faked by the seller the reviewers will have one or two reviews that they have left on other businesses. I have found the people who take the time to leave reviews are people who do so regularly where ever they spend their money. Reviews that come in clumps. Brokers will often get on in sessions, especially when they have to bury a bad review with 10-20 good ones. Reviewers that use non-lamen terms in their reviews, I don't expect a buyer to know all the purebred cat lingo and when a sellers reviews have terms you don't know about that usually means the seller is just bad at writing fake reviews.
Ways to Be Sure you are dealing with a real Breeder with real Kittens!!!
1. Talk with them on the phone. A breeder will be more than willing to answer your questions.
2. Check their Google Reviews. How many do they have and are they positive? SEE the review section above under brokers, If they have negative ones read and find out why. As with any business you can't please everyone all the time and some people are really unreasonable customers.
3. Get References. Veterinarian, past customers, mentors. A good breeder should have nothing to hide. My vet will talk to anyone considering one of my kittens and she sees all my kittens before they go to their new homes. My Mentor knows all my proticals and has her own reputation as breeder to protect, she is forthright with all my customers when they call her. My past customers often gush over their babies but once you get past the baby photos and how adorable their fuzzball is they will speak frankly about their experience.
4. google: "cattery name" bad reviews. this will dig up hidden dirt if any.
5. check their registration on TICA. if you are going to check TICA, remember there are two ways of doing this, TICA has a Pay to be on, breeder listing state by state, this is a paid advertising list. I don't need to pay to advertise so you won't find me on this listing. TICA also has a cattery registry. This is where you will find all breeders, if they are registered with TICA and have TICA papered purebred kittens.
We are listed as ASPENDOLLS on TICA and CFA.
6. !!!!ASK FOR MORE PICTURES!!!!. This is an excellent way to ascertain if they actually have kittens. Ask for unusual pictures like a picture of the head in profile and the hocks (back of back legs) and the top of the head and ears and the kittens back from above. If they don't have a kitten it will be impossible to get, ALL of these angles of the same kitten, off the internet. Get a picture of the kitten with your name written on a piece of paper under its feet like with diet bet weigh ins.
7. Ask for a picture of kitten with mom and with dad. kitten mills never want you to see the condition of their adults and scammers don't have the adults.
8.Never pay for the whole kitten before seeing the kitten in person the day of pickup. Either buy local or travel to the breeders house to pick up the kitten and pay when you have the kitten in hand. Even if I am delivering a kitten I don't expect payment in full until they have the kitten in their arms.
9. Visit the breeders home and MEET ADULTS. Many catteries will not allow visitors before a customer has put down a deposit. The reason I don't allow visitors before a deposit is because, in the past I didn't have that rule and people would come out just to play with ragdolls. Or they would be shopping catteries. Which means they were going from cattery to cattery. This goes against all my health protocols for the safety of my animals. But once you have put a deposit down I am happy to have you come and meet my adults and see my home. I have even had customers pay their deposit at the door and then come in and meet my adults. They just wanted to lay eyes on me before they handed over any money. THIS NEVER BOTHERS ME!
10. Covid is over: I personally would never buy a kitten from someone who will only meet me at a parking lot or starbucks, this just sets off all kinds of warning bells for me! Why don't they want me to see where my kitten is coming from? is it a mill? is it a broker selling kitten mill kittens? are they not zoned or registered with the state as a breeder? are they breaking laws having a cattery? (why would you care about these issues? you should care because the breeder who is above board will more likely be honest with you as a customer, they are also in this for the right reasons and will be there to support you and your kitten in the years ahead.)
1. Available immediately, Most breeders carry a waiting list. There are exceptions to this. Everyone on our waitlist is offered our kittens first when they are 7wks old. If they don't see the little one they want, these kittens are then offered on the website. But they can't go home till 12 wks. Some breeders post kittens at 12wks as soon as they are ready to go home. But these are by far the exception not the rule.
#6 "ways to be sure" below, tells how to tell scammers apart from legitimate breeders who don't do a waitlist.
2.Discounted price. No-one is discounting kittens these days. This is a dead give away that it is a scammer. Ragdolls are selling for $1200 and up, depending on the local. If the cattery is selling for less I would assume it is a scam!
3. Won't take calls, they only deal through emails and texts. That is usually because they can't speak English and they are running the conversation through a translator app. I absolutely wouldn't deal with anyone who won't answer a phone call.
4. Broken English or halting English in texts, emails, or on the website. google translate does a great job but never perfect. All of us have the occasional typo. It usually shows up in tenses or grammar errors.
5. Professional Photos. This isn't always a sure thing, I think my photos look pretty good. But be wary of too good of photos. I know for myself, I have kitten fatigue by the time I am done wrestling two poses with one kitten. Breeders just don't have the time to take perfect pictures. also run the photo through google search. It will show you where the photo originated from.
6. A Web address that can't be googled. Try to google the web address, if it doesn't show up it is a fake address even if it shows up in the URL when you are on their page.
7. Will ship today or tomorrow. it takes a couple days minimum to set up shipping or flights for delivery. I refuse to ship kittens. Breeders who do ship will give you all of the shipping info so that you can verify with the airlines before you pay anything. Most breeders can have you call the shipping airlines directly to pay for the shipping yourself. There are animal transport companies, you should always check reviews and research anyone who will be in contact with your kitten.
8. Will only accept payment in a non-reversible method like PayPal friends and family vs. PayPal business. There are fees associated with these protected methods of payment but I would rather pay an extra $60 then lose $1200+
9. New Scam I have seen lately The scammer takes information of potential buyers from a breeder's facebook page and then contacts the buyer posing as if they were the breeder. They offer a discount or payment method. You think you are dealing with the breeder directly. Just ask them if you can call them right back and then call back with the number on the breeders website to make sure it is really the actual breeder.
10. Watch out for kitten brokers. these people pose as breeders but they just ship kittens in from other sources and sell them.
11. Kitten Brokers. These individuals offer kittens of many ages, colors, and markings. Why is this bad, !st and foremost they are lying to the buyer.
They are bringing kittens to a central location from who knows where. They are often supplied by Kitten Mills.
How to Spot a Broker: Often the backgrounds in their pictures are all different. The adults that they have usually could not produce that many litters all the same age range, or the colors/markings they are claiming these adults have are not genetically possible from the parents they have.
Some things to ask yourself *how many litters is this "breeder" representing, *How many adults are producing these litters, * How many different styles and backgrounds are there for the kitten pictures,(If you look at my photos I have a style I stick to)
*How old are their reviews and How many google reviews do they have and over what period of time (most of the reviews for a broker will be over a couple months time not years of reviews like a reputable breeder) How many reviews have their reviewers left for other businesses. If reviews have been faked by the seller the reviewers will have one or two reviews that they have left on other businesses. I have found the people who take the time to leave reviews are people who do so regularly where ever they spend their money. Reviews that come in clumps. Brokers will often get on in sessions, especially when they have to bury a bad review with 10-20 good ones. Reviewers that use non-lamen terms in their reviews, I don't expect a buyer to know all the purebred cat lingo and when a sellers reviews have terms you don't know about that usually means the seller is just bad at writing fake reviews.
Ways to Be Sure you are dealing with a real Breeder with real Kittens!!!
1. Talk with them on the phone. A breeder will be more than willing to answer your questions.
2. Check their Google Reviews. How many do they have and are they positive? SEE the review section above under brokers, If they have negative ones read and find out why. As with any business you can't please everyone all the time and some people are really unreasonable customers.
3. Get References. Veterinarian, past customers, mentors. A good breeder should have nothing to hide. My vet will talk to anyone considering one of my kittens and she sees all my kittens before they go to their new homes. My Mentor knows all my proticals and has her own reputation as breeder to protect, she is forthright with all my customers when they call her. My past customers often gush over their babies but once you get past the baby photos and how adorable their fuzzball is they will speak frankly about their experience.
4. google: "cattery name" bad reviews. this will dig up hidden dirt if any.
5. check their registration on TICA. if you are going to check TICA, remember there are two ways of doing this, TICA has a Pay to be on, breeder listing state by state, this is a paid advertising list. I don't need to pay to advertise so you won't find me on this listing. TICA also has a cattery registry. This is where you will find all breeders, if they are registered with TICA and have TICA papered purebred kittens.
We are listed as ASPENDOLLS on TICA and CFA.
6. !!!!ASK FOR MORE PICTURES!!!!. This is an excellent way to ascertain if they actually have kittens. Ask for unusual pictures like a picture of the head in profile and the hocks (back of back legs) and the top of the head and ears and the kittens back from above. If they don't have a kitten it will be impossible to get, ALL of these angles of the same kitten, off the internet. Get a picture of the kitten with your name written on a piece of paper under its feet like with diet bet weigh ins.
7. Ask for a picture of kitten with mom and with dad. kitten mills never want you to see the condition of their adults and scammers don't have the adults.
8.Never pay for the whole kitten before seeing the kitten in person the day of pickup. Either buy local or travel to the breeders house to pick up the kitten and pay when you have the kitten in hand. Even if I am delivering a kitten I don't expect payment in full until they have the kitten in their arms.
9. Visit the breeders home and MEET ADULTS. Many catteries will not allow visitors before a customer has put down a deposit. The reason I don't allow visitors before a deposit is because, in the past I didn't have that rule and people would come out just to play with ragdolls. Or they would be shopping catteries. Which means they were going from cattery to cattery. This goes against all my health protocols for the safety of my animals. But once you have put a deposit down I am happy to have you come and meet my adults and see my home. I have even had customers pay their deposit at the door and then come in and meet my adults. They just wanted to lay eyes on me before they handed over any money. THIS NEVER BOTHERS ME!
10. Covid is over: I personally would never buy a kitten from someone who will only meet me at a parking lot or starbucks, this just sets off all kinds of warning bells for me! Why don't they want me to see where my kitten is coming from? is it a mill? is it a broker selling kitten mill kittens? are they not zoned or registered with the state as a breeder? are they breaking laws having a cattery? (why would you care about these issues? you should care because the breeder who is above board will more likely be honest with you as a customer, they are also in this for the right reasons and will be there to support you and your kitten in the years ahead.)