Do not pay for pet shipping! If you do, arrange it yourself. Send no $

Las Vegas NV

Description

ARTICLE FROM THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU Pet shipments often part of the scam The thieves almost always ask the victims to pay to ship the pet by air, and they will send victims to bogus websites of pet transportation companies set up to support the fraud. Pet buyers rarely realize that the transportation sites are often a part of the fraud. After the death of Collinsville, Ill., resident Danny Shelton’s Weimaraner, he began looking for another dog of that breed, and found jilaweimaranerpuppies.com. He sent $700 by MoneyGram to Atlanta to pay for the puppy and later offered to drive to Atlanta to get the puppy in person. But the “seller” insisted that the animal be shipped by air instead. When thieves instructed Shelton they needed an additional $1400 for insurance for the animal, he smelled a scam. He’d shipped pets by air before, when he was in the military, and knew that this was not necessary. He sent a text to the thieves, saying he knew he was being scammed, and included a photo of his five year old daughter crying. The seller’s response: “f*** you!” Several legitimate companies are in the business of shipping pets. The International Pet and Animal Transportation Association (IPATA) is a trade group for the industry of companies that perform this service for the public. It has 400 members in 80 countries around the world. IPATA Executive Director Cherie Derouin says they get calls from pet scam victims every day. In just the three months, from April to June of this year, they were contacted by 500 victims. And she believes this problem is getting worse. IPATA, itself, does not ship pets, but rather represents members that do that work. Rules for shipping pets are established by the International Air Transport Association. Derouin said travelers can sometimes take small dogs or pets on a plane if the animals will fit beneath their seat, although rules differ from airline to airline. Other pets be in a crate and transported in cargo. Also, no one can simply drop a pet off at an airport to be transported the following day. To transport pets within the U.S. the sender has to provide a veterinarian check and the pet must have health papers. Even more regulations apply for International shipments. Some scammers require a consumer to buy a fan for the animal if it is going to a hot-weather destination. Derouin said airlines will not allow transportation of a pet if the weather is dangerously hot. The IPATA routinely sends lists of bogus websites and email addresses to scamwarners.com and Petscams.com, which make efforts to track and remove bogus websites. It has an extensive discussion of pet frauds on its website. The FTC report also notes that many of the frauds impersonate the legitimate business uShip for the pet transportation. uShip is a company that matches shipping businesses with customers needing to hire a shipper. uShip does not have its own trucks or airplanes; it is a marketplace to help match people up. UShip has also posted warnings about pet frauds. do NOT contact me with unsolicited services or offers