Ronald Russell didn’t have his miniature pinscher dog for long, but in those four years, he and his wife grew very attached.
“Oh, he was the world. I mean, we rescued him from the SPCA, he was seven years old,” said Russell. “He ended up getting named Linus, and that took to him because he always carried, he always dragged a blanket around with him.”
After Linus passed away from complications from diabetes, Russell started searching for another dog on miniature pinscher adoption Facebook pages.
“And I came across, one day, a young lady in Pennsylvania who had a one-year-old female who was looking to re-home, a rescue type thing,” Russell said.
He paid the deposit on PayPal and then went to pick up the dog.
“We drove 3.5 hours up to Pennsylvania and arrived at the designated address, and no her, no dog. Started getting all kinds of excuses. The dog was at the vet, blah, blah, blah, went over to the vet, which just happened to be a quarter mile away, and they had no idea of the person or the dog or anything, and we realized at that point, we were scammed,” Russell recalled.
Typically, victims have no way of recovering their money, but Russell didn’t follow the scammer's directions. He sent payment through PayPal Business instead of Family and Friends.
“You had 48 hours to cancel it otherwise my money would have been gone,” said Russell.
While he saved himself a few hundred dollars, he couldn't avoid the disappointment.
“I was bummed. My wife was really upset because she was really looking forward to another min pin,” said Russell.
But within a few months, they ended up with two.
Russell found a post from Bring Em Home Animal Rescue and Trapping, Inc. in Baltimore that a bonded pair of 4-year-old miniature pinschers named Ali and Ace were looking for their forever home.
“They come to work every day with mom to the toy store,” said Russell. “These guys definitely like their meal time, nothing like turkey burgers and chicken.”
While it worked out for Russell, the Better Business Bureau receives many reports where that’s not the case.
“So, commonly we see reported losses being over $1,000 for these dogs,” said Clay Campbell of the Better Business Bureau of Greater Maryland.
He added that it’s because scammers use every excuse to try and get more money.
“A lot of these scammers are saying that this dog is stuck at an airport, or this dog is stuck in transit, and you have to pay more money to receive the dog,” Campbell said.
And they demand payment via wire transfer, gift cards or peer-to-peer payment apps.
“Never be willing to put money upfront. Always do it when you see the dogs,” Russell recommended.
And he's sharing his experience as a reminder to other adopters that they can save a pet and their money.
“It’s a shame someone turned them in or had to give them up, but their loss, our gain, and these puppies now have a really nice new home to hang out in,” said Russell.
When searching for a pet online, do a reverse image search. WMAR-2 News Mallory Sofastaii discovered that the dog photo sent to Russell was of a dog based in Japan.
Lost pet scams are also on the rise. Con artists contact owners and request payment or a reward before returning the pet, or they pretend to be a veterinarian or animal control and demand money for emergency treatment.
Click here to see the other 12 scams of Christmas.
This story was originally published by Mallory Sofastaii at Scripps News Baltimore.
