SCAM

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danieledwards2006

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I had been looking for a female herman tortoise for a long time and was on www.reptileclassifieds.co.uk I saw an advert that was selling lots of different breeds. I thought she was a breeder her name was Kate Jackson so I emailed her asking whether she had any. She emailed back stating all the breeds she had and prices and said she lived in leeds. I said it was too far away and she said she could deliver using a safe pet courier I dont normally believe in that practice but I had been looking for so long so I agreed. She said she would take the tortoise to the pet courier this morning and that I would be contacted by them with the details of how to make the payment. I received an email from Air Pets Moving services saying they have information about my Female Herman Tortoise From Mrs Kate Jackson at the french Pet Branch about delivering the tortoise to my house but said they cant ship her until they received my payment by money gram from the post office the address I had been given was to someone in cameroon which I thought was very strange but thought maybe it was because I must have been buying from a dealer I stupidly paid it because they said they couldnt deliver it until I had paid and I was really looking forward to getting her after I paid I had an email back confirming they had received it then shortly followed by another saying I had to pay £400 for insurance and £20 for food for the tortoise whilst it was kept at customs and that the £400 would be refunded in cash by the delivery people obviously I didnt pay this. I feel so angry that I have been conned I thought I would tell everyone just incase someone else fools for it. Has anyone any advice ?
 

Itort

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Here in the States we refer to that as the Nigerian Scam. I have a number of friends who were approached by people using this scam in items such as dogs and automobiles. The last case was a dog friend who turned it over the FBI. The scam has not reappeared in my area since. I suggest you turn it over to your equivalent of the FBI.
 

Isa

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O nooo :(
You thought you would get your new Hermann, you must be very upset. I hate those kind of things, how much money did you send them?
 

Ozric

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Daniel you should report this to the Police and also to Trading Standards which is part of your local authority. Its often impossible to nail internet scammers but the people who run that forum might do something, and at least stop running the adds.

There are quite a few people selling Hermanns in the UK. I don't want to post details as a lot of these animals are being imported from Slovenia and I personally doubt this trade is healthy. But they are certainly out there, use your search engines! Some pet shops and garden centres also sell Hermanns. Best of all try and find a breeder. In the UK, the website Shelled Warriors may be a place to start, they have a breeders list.

There is an even worse scam where the conmen watch forums like this and when someone says their tortoise is lost or stolen they pretend they have the animal and say they wll hand it over for a reward. Which they never do of course. Its a sick world.
 

jlyoncc1

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There are ads quite often like this on Craigslist. I actually responded to an ad for some box turtles and it was also based on a connection with Cameroon. I flagged it.
 
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