Hello,
I recently made a deposit for a puppy from a breeder who advertised that he was from Texas, USA. After the initial deposit was accepted, I made final payment arrangements for the remaining balance. After sending the final payment, he emailed me to confirmed that he had received it. However, two days later, the final payment was refunded to my account.
I emailed the breeder to ask why the final payment had been refunded. He responded that his PayPal account was having security issues so he needed to refund the money back to me. He asked me to resend the remaining balance (final payment) to a new PayPal account.
When I received the new PayPal account information, I noticed that the name was different and the telephone number was a different area code than the previous PayPal account information. This made me start to feel unsure as to whether or not this was a legitimate breeder.
Since the last email, he said the puppy is on its way and has given me the tracking number. However, when I searched the tracking number, the "cargo" seems to be leaving from Albany, NY (not Texas as he originally claimed). When I contacted the transportation company (USPS), they stated that they do not ship live animals unless they are shipped Express (less than 1 day), and the breeder stated the dog will arrive 3 days later.
In summary, there are many things that are now making me question whether or not there is a puppy coming and if this is a real breeder. I don't feel comfortable sending the remaining balance until I receive the puppy.
If the dog does not arrive, how can I proceed to get my original deposit back ($200 USD) and how can I report this PayPal user so others do not become victims of this scam?
Thank you.
