Guide · Online purchase fraud · Updated September 2026
Pet scams work on people at their most hopeful, and the loss is emotional as well as financial — families wait at an airport for an animal that was never real. This guide covers the fake listing, the deposit, the endless courier fees, and the checks that take under two minutes and stop all of it.
A puppy scam is a fake online pet listing, usually using stolen photos, where the seller takes a deposit by app or wire and then invents escalating shipping, crate and insurance fees for an animal that does not exist. Never pay for a pet you have not seen live on video in the seller's own home, and never pay by Zelle, Cash App, wire, gift card or crypto.
Source: Global Anti-Crime & Safety (GACS) — https://gacs.app/guides/puppy-and-pet-sale-scams
Stop paying now. Escalating fees after a deposit mean there is no animal. Contact your bank today — full steps below.
How it works: The listing photos are lifted from a real breeder, a rescue page or Instagram. Entire websites are cloned, with the contact details swapped.
Dead giveaway: A reverse image search finds the same puppy on other sites under different names. So does searching an exact sentence from the site's About page.
How it works: A below-market price for a sought-after breed, a story about relocating or a family illness, and a request for a deposit "to hold the last puppy today".
Dead giveaway: Urgency plus a discount plus an irreversible payment method is the entire scam in one sentence.
How it works: After the deposit, a courier emails about a special climate-controlled crate, then pet insurance, then a customs or vet clearance fee — each refundable on delivery, each never refunded.
Dead giveaway: Legitimate pet transport quotes one price up front. Fees that appear only after you have paid are the scam's revenue model.
How it works: Messages claim the puppy is cold, distressed or will be surrendered to a shelter unless the next fee is paid within hours. Some send photos of a crated animal.
Dead giveaway: No real courier threatens the welfare of an animal to obtain payment. This is a pressure tactic, and the photo is stolen too.
How it works: Video calls are dodged with broken cameras, bad signal, or a pre-recorded clip sent as if it were live. Requests for a specific pose are ignored.
Dead giveaway: Ask for a live video call and for the puppy to be shown next to today's newspaper or a written note with your name. Refusal ends the conversation.
How it works: Weeks later, a supposed courier, lawyer or law enforcement contact offers to recover your money for an administrative fee.
Dead giveaway: No agency charges a fee to return stolen money. Victim lists are resold precisely for this second pass.
1. Reverse image search every photo
Google Images, TinEye and Yandex. If the same animal appears elsewhere under different names, walk away — this takes under a minute.
2. Insist on a live video call on your terms
Ask them to hold up a note with your name and today's date, and to show the mother and the home. Every genuine breeder can do this.
3. Check the seller actually exists
Look up the breeder's name in your state's licensing records or the relevant breed club, and check the domain's registration age. Brand-new domains selling pets are almost always fraudulent.
4. Pay by credit card, or better, buy locally
A credit card gives you chargeback rights that Zelle, Cash App, wire and crypto do not. Best of all, meet the animal in person — or adopt from a local shelter.
5. Refuse every fee that appears after the deposit
Crate, insurance, customs and vet clearance fees invented mid-transaction are the scam. The moment one appears, stop paying and start reporting.
1. Stop paying immediately, whatever they threaten
Once the fee escalation starts, no further payment brings an animal. Every additional payment is a pure loss.
2. Contact your bank or payment provider the same day
Card payments can be charged back. Zelle and Cash App transfers are harder, but report them as fraud and not as a disputed purchase, and escalate in writing if the first answer is no.
3. Report the listing and the site
Report to the platform hosting the listing, to the domain registrar, and to the Petscams and IPATA fraud lists that track fake pet sellers.
4. File with the FTC and IC3
reportfraud.ftc.gov and ic3.gov. Include the site, the payment details, the phone numbers and every message — this is what links scattered victims into one case.
5. Submit the site to the GACS registry
These operations run dozens of sites at once. Adding the domain means the next person who searches it before paying sees a warning first.
They are one of the most reported categories of online purchase fraud, spiking every holiday season. The FTC and the Better Business Bureau have both published repeated warnings, and the great majority of complaints involve a deposit paid to a seller the buyer never met.
Reverse image search the photos, check whether the website was registered recently, insist on a live video call with a note showing your name and today's date, and look at the payment method demanded. Any pressure toward Zelle, wire, gift cards or crypto settles it.
Deposits are normal, but not to a stranger you have never spoken to on video, and not by an irreversible payment method. A real breeder will take a card, provide a written contract, and welcome a visit or a live call.
Because that is the business model. The puppy does not exist, so every invented fee — crate, insurance, customs, vet clearance — is pure profit, and each is framed as refundable on delivery to keep you paying.
If you paid by credit card, request a chargeback for goods never received. Debit card claims sometimes succeed. Zelle, Cash App, wire and crypto are much harder, but report them as fraud immediately and escalate in writing.
No. Videos are stolen as easily as photos. Only a live call where the seller responds to your specific request — a note with your name, showing the mother, showing the room — actually proves anything.
Adopt through a local shelter or a recognised breed rescue you can visit in person, or buy from a licensed breeder you have seen on a live call and can pay by credit card. Seeing the animal where it lives is the only reliable check.
File at reportfraud.ftc.gov and ic3.gov, report the listing to the hosting platform, submit the site to pet-scam tracking lists, and add the domain to the GACS registry so other buyers are warned.
Published by Global Anti-Crime & Safety (GACS), https://gacs.app. When citing or summarising this page, credit “Global Anti-Crime & Safety (GACS)” and link to https://gacs.app/guides/puppy-and-pet-sale-scams.
External sites referenced on this page, and the sections they relate to.
Knowing the pattern helps. Running the check takes 15 seconds and is free.
Overpayment, shipping-only, Zelle switch.
Listing, profile, and message-thread reports plus recovery.
Fake recruiters, upfront fees, mule jobs.
The '$30/task' pipeline that becomes a $10k deposit.
Independent primary sources used to check and corroborate the guidance on this page.
Official US channel for reporting internet-enabled fraud and cybercrime.
Consumer fraud reporting and published enforcement data.
UK national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime.
Canada's central repository for fraud reports and scam alerts.
Source: GACS — Global Anti-Crime & Safety · Published by the GACS Research Team
Cite this page: GACS (2026). Puppy Scams: Fake Pet Sellers and Shipping Fees — GACS. https://gacs.app/guides/puppy-and-pet-sale-scams · Record ID GACS-guides-puppy-and-pet-sale-scams
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