Cape Town - Grieving after having to put down her 6-year-old Rottweiler Rolo suffering from bone cancer, Gemma Steel never imagined her efforts to buy a puppy to help ease her son’s pain would see her fall victim to an online scam.
And she’s not alone, it appears, with similar reports emerging from other parts of the country.
For Steel, of Port Elizabeth, her experience began after she’d spent nearly two months medicating Rolo with a combination of morphine and other medication to alleviate the pain as the dog continued to deteriorate. Then, in early July, she made the difficult decision put him down.
Devastated, Steel visited the local animal shelter with her 12-year-old son, Cameron. “I wasn’t sure if I was ready for another puppy but my son was so heartsore and missed his dog so much that I thought it would help us with the grief.”
But she didn’t feel ready to purchase a new dog in person. “I sat and cried in the car and told my son that I’m not ready for another dog. But he was so hurt and I thought it might make it better for us both, hence, the quick website search.”
A few days later, she found an advert for Great Danes on the free online classified site Junk Mail. “It was literally a spur-of-the-moment emotional decision to check the website,” Steel wrote in an email.
Only after depositing R2 500 for a female Great Dane named Roxxy did Steel learn it was a scam.
Steel believed she had arranged to have Roxxy shipped from Upington Airport to Port Elizabeth in late July. But the dog never arrived.
Instead, the seller, who called herself Marie, asked for an additional deposit of R5 000 for a special crate to ship Roxxy via a private courier. “I refused to make the payment of R5 000 for the crate,” wrote Steel. “I phoned the courier person and I told him I don’t have the money to pay for the crate and his response was the puppy will be taken to a shelter. Don’t phone me again’.”
Steel also asked for her R2 500 back a number of times, but never got a refund.
When Weekend Argus called the same number, it went straight to voicemail.
Christine Snyman, of Johannesburg, suffered a similar fate when her search for Maltese puppies led her to a vendor selling 10-week-old dogs online at R2 000 each.
The seller, who called herself Miriam, claimed that she was based in Upington and said that it would cost R1 000 to fly the puppies to Johannesburg.
Claire Cobbledick, head of marketing for the online classified site Gumtree, said the best indicator of a pet scam was if the seller did not allow a buyer to see the animals before purchasing them.
“They will usually respond to say that they are based in a different province or country and then offer to ship the pet once payment has been made.”
On September 11, Snyman paid a R2 500 deposit to ship the two pups to Johannesburg. The seller said they would be flown the next day and Snyman waited for the seller to provide her with a tracking number. But, after receiving no further updates, she started getting suspicious. “My suspicions were confirmed when the lady said she was in (an) accident en route to (the) couriers, but the pups were at the courier.
“By that time I’d called all the couriers in Upington and the only courier that did transport pups to Johannesburg said they hadn’t received any pups.”
She was then given a contact number for the alleged courier, who later sent her an email stating that “due to bad weather conditions the pups now needed a temperature-regulated crate for a refundable deposit of R5 000”.
Snyman said she had alerted Junk Mail to the scam and would also lodge a complaint with the police.
To avoid online pet scams, Cobbledick said Gumtree strongly encouraged people to adopt animals from reputable shelters. “Most reputable breeders will be registered with Kusa (Kennel Union of Southern Africa) or similar organisations that you can contact as a reference. Always proceed with caution and never pay money to anyone until you have viewed your pet in person.”
Police spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut said online pet scammers could be charged with fraud or theft. “If you have reason to believe that you are being lured into a fraudulent transaction, use extra security measures to check the credentials of the seller and exercise caution.
“If you have already parted with your cash and failed to receive the purchased item, also approach police for an investigation.”
Weekend Argus