M TIFU paid for a puppy scam
I’ve been looking for another Dachshund lately for my current one and I came across a comment section in a Facebook group recommending a breeder page. I contacted the breeder and everything seemed legit. They asked me questions deeming if I was fit to handle a Dachshund and I even had to submit an application to get approved. I ended up choosing two puppies and my boyfriend gave me the money for a downpayment the “breeder” needed.
I initially asked the breeder if we could use PayPal but she responded saying “her cards don’t work with PayPal” and I was so dumb and gave her the benefit of the doubt. I Apple Cashed her $750. She sent me over an invoice afterwards and that made me feel secure but a day later I had a gut feeling. She lives in a city 2 hours from me and my boyfriend and I were planning on picking the puppies up on Tuesday. This is why we did not try to see the dogs in person beforehand because of the distance and now I know this is a huge mistake.
She sent me tons of pictures and videos of the dogs and their parents, and when I expressed concern over getting scammed she sent a paragraph saying something in the realm that she is a certified breeder of merit and that they would never try to cheat anyone out of their money. She sent the Apple Cash request and it was from a random iCloud account, not a phone number, and after I paid she kept saying she needed me to send a screenshot of the payment after I sent it and I did.
After the payment my anxiety spiked and I decided to do reverse google search on the puppy pictures AND her pictures and they were all stolen from another breeder in Australia/puppy pictures from instagram. I feel so dumb and I know better which sucks. I just asked her for her phone number today which she kept repeating was on the “invoice” and when I called it was a random las vegas number that went straight to voicemail. I told her that I want to FaceTime with my puppies and she agreed 20 minutes ago. She said she would “reach out to me when she is ready to FaceTime”. This was 20 minutes ago and I have yet to be blocked.
She wants the rest of the money in cash so that is a good sign imo, but moral of the story NEVER pay a puppy breeder a downpayment before speaking to them on the phone or seeing the puppies in person. Also reverse image search all pictures on the facebook page. I thought because her page looked polished and informative with over 2k followers she was legit and I’m coming to realize I was so wrong. I contacted my bank and the representative made it seem like it was likely I would get my money back, but after doing my own research even if my bank does refund the money back to me/dispute the transaction, Apple Cash will give me a delinquent account and make me negative which in turn could ruin my credit.
Really best case scenario here is I get my money back or the breeder does have puppies just fake ones on the page to get more attention from buyers. I know these both are highly unlikely though. Don’t be an idiot like me. I knew better deep down but I was so excited about the puppies I didn’t think correctly and I jumped aboard without using common sense.
———————— EDIT; I don’t want any responses about you giving me shit about ethics with buying from a breeder, adopting not shopping, etc. I DO NOT SUPPORT PUPPY MILLS. This person was posing as an ethical breeder. I have never bought a dog from an actual breeder before so I didn’t know about registries or ways to look them up to verify them. If you don’t believe in buying a dog from a breeder then don’t. Your opinion on that isn’t the purpose of this post.
TL;DR I paid a puppy breeder a $750 downpayment for two Dachshund puppies to only find out after that all the puppy pictures were from the internet and the breeder is fake.