01/17/2024
It seems these breed specific scam groups are just growing FB wide faster and faster.. Here’s a few tips on identifying these groups that may suck you in to helping them scam people. And by helping them, I just mean by liking, following, joining and even sharing their group. The more members or followers, the more legitimate they appear, so others aren’t worried about anything being off with the group. We are seeing that these groups will start out with a name like “Bloodhound Lovers” (or whichever breed) or some kind of breed club name. They steal pictures from breeders or owners and just label as “Great photography” or “Perfect Shoot”, etc.. seems harmless enough, but the groups are full of fake profiles promoting these groups until they reach a certain size. We’ve seen this happen in record time because they are the ones going into other pages or groups and comment with a link for you to “come join our group”. Then once they reach that desired size, they change their group or page name to come off like either a breeder page or a sales group. This is where they start the scamming. Fake breeder profiles with stolen pics will scam people out of deposits or full payments on pups that don’t exist. Then they simply block or ban the person they did it to so they can’t even find the scammer profile or group/page anymore on FB.
So, how can you identify these people and groups? Just scroll back and see when the pics and posts started. Most were started in Sept 2023 forward. They have a huge following because of the amount of breeder pages they spam with “join our group” comments. If you receive one of these on ANY group or page, don’t do it…. Just simply click on their name and hold down until you get a pop up that will allow you to report them as spam. The more everyone starts doing this, the more we will hopefully see a decline in these.
Also, when in a group and someone is “recommending” a breeder because they got their wonderful dog from that person, just go look at their profile.. see how long they’ve been a member of FB. Most are only 3-4 months old, if that long.
Watch their grammar…. That’s a big easy give away. Also, a location is never given. They get you to PM. They will look at your profile and pick another city in your state so they appear to be local. So get a friend in another state to ask location and then you ask as well. They will send a pm and most times you will each get different responses. Also, some won’t even bother trying to remove a breeder’s watermark or name from pics.
I think now days more and more of us are able to spot scammers more easily, but they are getting smarter. And just building a following is one of the biggest ways. And it’s not just dog breeds - it’s every type of animal and anything that can be sold. Just be careful, patient and ask a lot of questions if not sure.
