Description

My daughter and I made contact with a person we believed to be Henry Stones of Sunshine Papillons in Colorado Springs, CO on Saturday, May 18th. The website (Sunshinepapillons.com) listed about 6 Papillon puppies For Adoption at a cost of $700 each. The application allowed us to inquire about 2 puppies. We inquired about Louie (male) and Luna (female). We received an email response from "Henry Stones" in regards to Luna the female. I also received a text message to my phone which I had provided on the questioner. We exchanged several emails about the puppy and after a few hours, I felt pressured to complete a purchase. I explained that I was not yet comfortable completing an adoption and would need at least the evening to continue discussing with my daughter. The response I received back was a pressurized, "hopefully another family doesn't get her first." I didn't appreciate the response but we continued our conversation and I ultimately ended the conversation saying I would get back to them on Sunday, May 19th. Knowing Colorado operates 2 hours behind SC, I received an email at 7:56am Sunday morning. I told my daughter I felt it was very strange for them to send an email at roughly 6am their time. However, my daughter, who is a rising senior in college, was so in love with this possibility of adopting this puppy and taking her to college as her emotional support dog, I put ALL me gut instincts and apprehensions aside and continue the conversation about payment. We were asked to send $400 deposit (puppy price was $700 plus $300 air travel) by Zelle or Apple Pay. My daughter completed the $400 payment using Apple Pay to 443-235-4017 which was not the same number that had contact me by test message. I have recently discovered the 443 number belongs to a woman name DeShonna Williams in Atlanta, GA. This number has request my daughter send an additional $400 prior to air travel. I stopped my daughter from sending the money because that was not the agreement. That's when I began researching Sunshine Papillons and discovered they are on a Pet Scam list. Sunshine Papillons actually exists in Florida and the breeder is named Francis Sullivan. She has been trying to get the scam website taken down since March 2024. I have no hopes in recouping the $400 deposit but I do not want anyone else to fall victim to this scam. My daughter needed this puppy and has now been depressed the past two days and is seconding guessing her own instincts. I do not like that!