Description

I visited a web site which advertised exotic birds. I emailed the owner at her gmail account. She then began to message me through What's App. I sent the first payment for the bird, which was $689. Subsequently, I was told that I needed an additional $200 for special bird food. Lastly the specialized shipping crate was to cost me another $550. When the first $500 amount didn't go through, I sent another payment. Fortunately, I was able to stop payment on $500 when my bank told me that this was a scam. My payments were going to South Africa, not Virginia. I tried to cancel the PayPal transactions but was not able to do it.

BBB notes: If you feel you are a victim of an online pet or pet transportation scam, BBB encourages you to file a complaint and/or customer review at www.bbb.org/Norfolk, with the Virginia Attorney General's office at https://www.oag.state.va.us/consumer-protection/index.php/file-a-complaint, as well as report your experience to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov and the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov.