2020 saw a sharp rise in reported online puppy scams says the Better Business Bureau.
The BBB says the pandemic resulted in increased demand for pets to help ease loneliness and tension, but that demand also resulted in a spike in pet scams, resulting in people paying hundreds, if not thousands of dollars for a pet that doesn’t exist.
The BBB’s Scam Tracker saw a huge uptick in pet fraud reports with nearly 4000 reports received in 2020 in Canada and the United States.
There were more fraudulent pet websites reported in April alone than in the first three months of the year combined. According to the BBB, indications now are that a person searching online for a new pet is extremely likely to encounter a scam listing or website.
The BBB’s Scam Tracker data shows a total of 884 reports in 2017 with reported losses of $448,123. That rose to 3,969 reports in 2020 between January and the end of November.
The median loss reported to Scam Tracker in 2020 was $750. The BBB says if you want to add a pet to your life see the animal in person before paying any money, do a reverse image search online if all that’s available is a picture, do research to get a sense of a fair price, and check your local animal shelter to see if you might find a suitable pet there.
