BEWARE of Ads for a Puppy or Puppies that request a deposit upfront

Seattle WA

Description

I recently responded to an ad for a Basset Hound puppy which looked too good to be true -- and it was. This ad included a phone contact which the person would only respond to via text. They told me that they were out of town but that I could see the puppy the next day if I first sent a $250 deposit to hold it. This response made me a bit nervous so I continued to text with them to feel them out for more info. The responses I began to receive were along the lines of, "have you sent the payment through Zelle yet?" The phone number by the way was one of those that gave an automated response saying, "The Google text mail subscriber you are trying to reach is not available." I have found that these recordings almost always indicate a scam. I'm hoping this information will prevent others from possibly losing their money to these scam artists.