Description

I was searching online for dog breeders and came across their website. I filled out their submission form to learn more about the puppies they had posted for sale. The person who reached out to me via text and would not fully answer my questions about the puppy's parents, living situation, wouldn't meet online to prove in real time the puppy was healthy. No proof of life. Only a prerecorded video that could have been taken at any time by anyone or downloaded from online. They would not Facetime or meet on Zoom. When I sent the Zoom link to their Gmail account, they said it was invalid, which it was not. They requested Zelle payment if we wanted to visit in person. They said they were in Denver, Colorado, and celebrating their "21st anniversary in breeding sale on the puppies so others could afford an opportunity to own one of their puppies". They sent photos and one video of the puppy eating carrots. We used Google lens to try and find the pictures online. Doing this brought us to a Facebook video with a similar looking puppy (too similar!). The Facebook video had an Instagram username tagged in it. I went to Instagram and found the exact photos that were sent to us and posted to the bogus website. The Instagram user was not affiliated with the bogus website. The tactics used were the scammer not willing to provide proof the puppy was in their possession, would not provide information about its mom or dad, vaccination records, wanted payment before any type of documentation would be shared. Their texting was not in complete sentences or giving "I've been doing this for 21 years" energy. After telling the scammer via text that I felt Zelle was not secure with buyers' protection, I suggested PayPal or another form of payment. They replied that they didn't have PayPal. I asked if they had ever done video meetings or video calls with other customers before, they said yes but always had to be walked through how to do it (connect to video meetings). They said they didn't have Facetime. On Facebook there is a page Elegant Dachunds-Eledox who alerted followers that the website elegantdachshundhome.com was impersonating their website and customers were reporting similar situations and that the scammers were requesting payment via Zelle to reserve a puppy. There were too many red flags, not enough clear answers, and avoidance to provide proof of life.