I’ve been dealing with scams today because it seems to me that, in the UK, they are becoming more common. UK is full of scammers. In fact, many live abroad and feed on the UK’s citizens as if the country is “treasure Island”. UK citizens need to be ever vigilant and switched on. It’s getting worse. The police can’t help and the government isn’t interested.
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So, today, I picked up a story about a couple who forked out £456 to adopt a dog in Bosnia. They made arrangements through a dog rescue who promised to do all the work to get the dog from Bosnia to them in the UK. They were asked for money upfront and paid it but the dog never arrived after a multitude of excuses. This is a typical scam.
It is particularly unpleasant because it feeds on the niceness of people who want to adopt an animal that needs adopting, that needs a home in a country where they are often abused.
The scammers prey on the emotional connection that people have with rescue dogs living in very difficult conditions in foreign countries. This means these people are more open to being scammed. They are less vigilant and tend to be careless. This is because they are nice, decent and caring people. They save their money with great diligence and then it all goes up in a puff of smoke because of a nasty scammer.
That’s one example but there are numerous others. Another news item tells me that puppy scammers are posing as dog rescues to con families out of thousands of pounds.
They set up a Facebook dog rescue page which can be done in a matter of minutes and pretended to be a dog or cat rescue. It looks genuine. They post pictures of dogs and cats for adoption and requests upfront payments as a deposit.
You never see the cat or dog. Facebook is very slow to deal with the scammers. If at all. They are predators.
NEVER TRANSFER MONEY UPFRONT UNLESS YOU ARE COMPLETELY SURE THAT THE RECIPIENT IS GENUINE.
The UK Pet Detectives, a well-known business that helps to find lost cats and dogs or those that have been stolen, claimed that “many of the thousands of animal charities and rescue centres in the UK are operated by unscrupulous, greedy people who use the plight of abandoned or sick animals as a means of funding their lavish lifestyles.”
They seek donations to run their charges. This is an alternative way to get money out of people in addition to the one mentioned above. Once again, they prey on the niceness of people who want to help. They take money and spend it on themselves while neglecting any animals that they might have in their care.
In America, one of the best exponents of this scammy behaviour was/is a middle-aged woman whose name is: Julianne Westberry. She was prolific and as bent as a nine bob note (UK phrase meaning dishonest). There are many pages on her on this site. She was prosecuted but I’d bet she is back doing her thing under a new persona. You can be anyone you want to be on social media which makes adopting rescue animals on FB, and giving to charities on FB problematic. I would not do it. But that is just me.
Click this link to see a catalogue of Westberry news! ??: https://pictures-of-cats.org/tag/julianne-westberry
