A Pet Sitting Scam???
petsits.com
Scam´mer: a person who swindles you by
means of deception or fraud
Many people have heard of the more common scams in the world, and most have
received their own share of "You've won the lottery" of a foreign country
emails.
However, many new pet sitters don't realize how common it is for scammers to
target specific industries with their online scams. Pet Sitting / Dog Walking
is definitely one of those industries, and once a new sitter lists an email
address on any website (including their own business website), it becomes only a
matter of time before they will be targeted by a scammer.
The good news is that scams only work if you fall for them.
How The Pet Sitting Scam Works
The most common
pet sitting scam in 2007-2009 is an overpayment scam.
There may be many variations.
As a second aspect of the same scam, the scammer may request "errand"
services like "opening mail" and "sending gifts" from other pet sitters as a
way to pass the overpayments through a local address to the other scammed dog
walkers and pet sitters.
The scam starts with a scammer inquiring about pet sitter services, often
specifically
dog walking services. Or the scammer may offer to give away
an animal (often a dog), or may claim to be wanting to buy an animal (mistaking
pet sitters for dog breeders).
When a pet sitter responds, an offer is made by the scammer to send payment
for services or goods by Money Order, often from some time of "business" the
scammer claims to work for, or a government "embassy."
The amount of the Money Order will be written for more than the amount
needed, and the recipient is to send the extra on to a 3rd party.
The Money Orders are fraudulent. However, many banks will still cash the
Money Order and place the funds into the pet sitters account within a few days.
However, usually within a month, the Money Order is returned as fraudulent, and
the bank will withdraw the money from the pet sitter's account. The bank may
also charge extra fees, and may pursue the sitter with criminal charges for
cashing a fake check.
By that time, the pet sitter has often thought that since the bank cashed the
check, it was good - and they've already sent legitimate funds back to the
scammer, often using western union. Usually the scammer is long gone with the
money by this time.
The scammer also separately requests "errand" services from other pet
sitters. The fraudulent checks are sent first to these pet sitters, who
repackage them and forward them on to you. This gives the mail a local (U.S.)
envelop and stamp instead of the original Nigeria labels - making the check look
more legit.
This sitter is usually paid with a fraudulent check also. And since mail
fraud is a federal offense, this sitter can be in serious legal trouble for
mailing a fraudulent check - even though they didn't know it was all a scam.
How Scammers Find Their Targets
Many scammers use software that scours the internet for pages that
have certain key phrases, such as Pet Sitter, Dog Walker, Pet
Nanny, and Pet Care. The programs catalog any and all email
addresses listed on these pages. Pet sitter directories are especially
popular.
Once a list is made, the scam is sent out to every email on the
list. There can be hundreds or thousands of emails on each list. It only takes
one or two gullible pet sitters to make it worthwhile.
How to Spot A Scam
Scammers change their tactics daily to make their scams better and
more noticeable. So there is no guaranteed way to spot a scam. However, there
are some individual current key factors that should raise your suspicions:
-
When you first read the email, it sounds like a terrific
opportunity. The scammers count on pet sitters (especially newbies) being so
excited by the request, that they turn off their normal "too good to be true"
sensors.
-
The "To" address on the email messages is not your email
address. A real client will generally find your email address on a website, and
send email directly to that account. If the "To" is blank, or the same as
the "From," or has some nickname for you, that is less likely to be from a
client.
-
The client is traveling to your location from outside the U.S.
This is very rare. A survey on the message board found that so far, no sitters
have received a legitimate request of this nature.
-
The client plans to write a payment for more than they owe you,
and you are to send the extra elsewhere. Clients just never do this. Nor
should you ever let them!
-
The clients says you have to wait for payment for services because the business they work for is going to write
out and mail you check directly. It is true that some businesses will
cut checks for pet sitting services. However, this is rare - so it should raise
a red flag for you. And it is more common for the client to get reimbursed than
the business to pay the service directly. A business will certainly will
not pay extra directly to you to send on to somewhere else.
-
Scammers tend to start from the perspective
that all they have to do is contact you to get you booked. So their messages
start with "I will be needing your dog walking services" and ask for nothing but a
price quote. Real clients tend to start with "I'm interested in learning
more about your business" and then follow up with some questions. They often
will feel you out before jumping in.
-
The message is from a Yahoo user. That in
itself is not a sign that it's a scam, but many scammers do use Yahoo for some
reason.
-
The IP is from Nigeria or another foreign
country. If you are a bit computer savvy, you can find the sender's IP in the
headers and look it up at a service such as AllNetTools to see the
originating country of the email.
-
Requested vacations are very long (such as a month). And time
requests are longer than average sits lengths. Plus, the times are very
flexible.
-
Punctuation is poor, and the English is questionable.
-
The sender has a very odd name. Sometimes the last name may
actually be a common first name.
-
They may use terms like "Soonest," "Regards," and "God."
-
They may offer to call you, or insist that you call them.
Scammers get a hold of used cell phones, and will often offer phone contact in
order to convince you that they are good people with a legitimate service need.
-
When asked for a picture of their pets, they will send you a
picture of a show dog (usually found on Google images).
-
They may keep trying to snag you, even if you start to question
them. Some will go as far as still trying to scam you after you've told them
you've been contacted by the FBI.
Note: As soon as the scammers read this list, they will likely
change their scams to avoid these things.
About The Scammers
Online Scammers in Nigeria and other countries are not often like
the rich offline scammers you hear about on the news in the U.S.
Overseas scammers often come from very poor areas. They are
trained to do scams very efficiently. For many, this is their FULL time job.
They sit in internet cafes all day long, and they are very good at
smooth-talking victims after a victim takes the first bait.
Responding that you know it is a scam, or other excuses why you
can't help them will not impress the scammers. They have thousands of other
scams out there to manage and people to write back to, so they will just ignore
your response if it's not promising.
How To Avoid Getting Scammed
-
Trust your instinct from the first instant.
-
Never accept overpayment for pet sitting with the expectation to
send some of it on to somewhere else.
-
Never offer your birthdate, SSN, username, bank, or other private
information to anyone online. Especially if they are asking you to "confirm"
something for security reasons.
-
Never click a link provided in an email message.
-
See if others have already received the same (or a very similar)
email message.
-
Read through previous scams to get a feel for how the messages
work.
