The photos are adorable. The price is a little below what you expected. The breeder is warm, responsive, and clearly loves their animals. You pay the deposit. Then the shipping crate fee arrives. Then the insurance. Then a customs hold. The puppy you fell in love with in those photos was never yours to begin with — because it never existed.
The puppy and pet scam is a non-delivery fraud that exploits the emotional investment people make when searching for a new animal companion. Unlike most product scams where the victim’s commitment is primarily financial, pet scams generate deep emotional attachment to a specific animal — a named puppy whose photos the buyer has shared with their family, who has already been promised to their children — before revealing the fraud. This emotional dimension makes recovery particularly difficult and the scam particularly cruel.
The BBB Scam Tracker consistently reports pet scams as one of the top five online fraud types by volume. The FTC estimates that Americans lose millions annually to pet fraud, with French Bulldogs, Golden Retrievers, Yorkshire Terriers, and Shih Tzus being the most commonly used breeds in fake listings — popular, expensive breeds where the below-market price is most compelling and the real market price provides the most room to extract fees before reaching it.
The scam operates in two environments: on peer-to-peer platforms (Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, OfferUp) through individual listings, and through fraudulent breeder websites that appear in Google search results when people search for specific breeds. Both use identical structures — stolen photos, escalating fees, and a puppy that never arrives.
A listing appears on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, or a purpose-built breeder website featuring genuine photos of real puppies — stolen from legitimate breeders’ social media accounts or websites. The listing price is below market: a French Bulldog that typically costs $3,000–$5,000 is listed for $800–$1,200. The listing copy is warm and detailed, describing the puppies’ personalities, health history, and current life. Some listings include fake health certificates and registration documents.
Initial contact is friendly and responsive. The “breeder” shares additional photos and videos of the specific puppy — sourced from the stolen account’s content — and sometimes communicates through WhatsApp with video clips that appear to show a genuinely caring environment. They ask about your family and home, making you feel they are ensuring a good match for their animals. This warmth and the specificity of the communication build emotional attachment to the particular animal before any payment is made.
A deposit is requested — typically $200 to $500 — to hold the puppy. Payment is requested via Zelle, Venmo, wire transfer, or gift cards. At this stage, some victims feel confident because the breeder seems genuinely caring and the amount feels reasonable relative to the full price. The deposit payment provides the scammer with proof of concept: this victim will pay. The escalation begins immediately after.
After the deposit, problems materialize — each requiring payment. A special airline-approved crate that the buyer must purchase ($200–$400). A veterinary health certificate for air travel ($150–$300). Pet insurance required by the airline for the flight ($250–$500). A customs clearance fee because the puppy is coming from out of state ($200). An unexpected layover creating a “temporary holding fee” at an animal facility ($300). The scammer calibrates each fee to be smaller than what has already been invested — making continued payment feel rational to protect the original deposit and the animal the buyer has emotionally committed to. There is no puppy. There is no airline. Every fee is extracted profit.
Before paying any deposit for any pet you cannot meet in person, request a live FaceTime or video call showing the specific animal — and during that call, ask the seller to hold up a piece of paper with today’s date written on it, or to perform a specific action you name in real time. Pre-recorded video clips are worthless as verification. A genuine breeder has no reason to refuse a live video call. A scammer using stolen photos and video clips cannot comply with a real-time specific request — their refusal or evasion is confirmation of fraud.
A sophisticated variant targets people who search Google for specific breeds — “French Bulldog puppies for sale [city]” or “registered Golden Retriever breeder.” Scammers build professional-looking breeder websites with detailed breed information, galleries of real dogs, fabricated testimonials, and contact forms. These sites sometimes appear in paid search results above legitimate breeders.
The website creates an impression of an established breeding operation — with claims of AKC registration, health guarantees, and years of experience. All of it is fabricated. The contact form sends inquiries to the scammer, who then communicates exactly as described above: warm initial contact, deposit request, and fee escalation. The website is typically abandoned after several months and relaunched under a different name and domain as fraud reports accumulate.
Verify any breeder website by searching the business name on the BBB, checking the domain registration date at whois.domaintools.com, and searching the business address on Google Maps to confirm it corresponds to a real residential property. For AKC-registered breeders, verify registration directly at marketplace.akc.org using the breeder’s name.
Pet scams often target families, including children who become emotionally invested in a specific animal. The same awareness that helps adults avoid pet fraud applies to the digital spaces kids use every day. Our guide to keeping children safe online covers the platforms where kids are most active and most vulnerable.
Fraudulent pet operations use data broker profiles to target people who match the demographic of active pet searchers — homeowners, families with children, and people whose purchase history signals pet ownership. Find out how much of your data is currently available to targeting operations like these.
