How to Spot & Avoid Online Parrot Selling Scams

Avoid getting scammed by people selling parrots on the internet, one lady’s story and how you can learn from it.

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Jamieleigh and I have a lot of parrots. The picture below, is me. I’m blonde, about 5′4″ and work and train parrots for a living.

Now that you know what I look like, I can tell you more about how to save yourself upwards of $300 and a ton of heartbreak by not buying birds from people who are scamming you out of your money – and using my photos with my own birds to do so. If you see me and my birds in an ad saying the birds are for sale – run the other direction, it’s a scam. And scammers LOVE using my pictures.

First of all, scammers are getting darn good and they’re making tons of fake websites to help them get your money fast. For example, the International Animal Transport Agency website (http://petmover.webs.com/contactus.htm)? It doesn’t really exist. It’s fake. You can’t contact the customer service, they have tons of typos and none of the information given is legit… scammers created it to make you feel like you can actually track your non-existent new pet they didn’t ship.

HOW SCAMMERS FIND YOU:

1. You put out an ad on the internet saying you want to buy a parrot.
2. Someone else (scammer) puts out a fake ad about selling/giving away a parrot which you respond to.

WEBSITES WE’VE FOUND PARROT SCAMS ON USING OUR PICTURES:

• http://www.hoobly.com/
• http://www.kijiji.com/
• http://www.oodle.com/

Now this doesn’t mean these are bad websites, but it does mean to shop carefully and be able to recognize when people are using our photos for their ads. If you see it, REPORT IT. It’s fraud and it’s illegal. Only buy from verified and trustworthy sellers, those that are will have icons saying so next to their user names.

The latest victim to a parrot selling scam involving my pictures was a nice lady from Canada named Wendy. She put an ad out looking for a cockatiel, and she got a reply from Ann Lewis saying she was out of cockatiels but had some other parrots that might interest Wendy. These parrots happened to be… mine. And Ann? Well she happened to be… me. Or at least she claimed she was me in the photos she sent out to Wendy.

Ann sent Wendy tons of pictures of me with my birds that she stole from this very blog, as well as our Flickr account. I suggest you become VERY familiar with our photos from flickr so that you can help spot new ad scams out there.

After falling in love with our parrot pictures and the hopes of getting one of our birds, Wendy quickly sent Ann the $110 she asked for simply for shipping and nothing else. Ann just wanted to make sure the birds went to a really good home… yeah, right.

Straight from scammer Ann to Wendy:

these birds came with all necessary papers needed,but as the Canadian veterinarian must conduct another test to be sure of their health status,It was done ,all was fine and Medication Papers were accurate ,The test Results shows that this birds are free from such diseases that may attack other Animals like (dogs, Monkeys and Cats E.T.C).So these birds are now ready for shipping and delivery ……………. But it should be noted that this processes cannot be carried out unless the sum of ($110) is paid for the flight ticket .for these birds will come alongside with two of our pet carriers.

FYI, all money transactions were done through Western Union.

But then when it came time to “ship the birds” Ann needed $350 for insurance on the flight. Wendy didn’t have it and let Ann know it. But Ann had an idea – she would pay $200 if Wendy paid $150 and then the birds would get there the NEXT DAY! Wendy was excited, and quickly paid the next $150 to Ann.

DEAR CLIENT,
ACCEPT GREETINGS FROM THE ENTIRE STAFF OF THE PET TIME OF PET MOVERS CARGO BRANCH BANFF / CANMORE. WE HAVE INFORMATION TO DELIVER TWO HYACINTH MACAW PARROTS AT YOUR HOME TODAY. WE ARE SORRY FOR THE WHAT WE ARE TO TELL YOU BUT YOU HAVE TO KNOW THAT VACCINES OF YOUR BIRDS HAVE EXPIATE JUST SOME FEW HOURS A GO AND WE WANT TO LET YOU KNOW THAT THE ANIMAL DOCTORS OF THE CANADIAN KENNEL CLUB SAID THAT THIS BIRDS CAN NOT CONTINUE THE FLIGHT TO YOUR HOME . THIS VACCINES COST $150. THIS VACCINES IS OF YOUR OWN GOOD AS THESE BIRDS CAN BE AFFECTED BY DISEASES THAT CONTAMINATE PETS IN A FLIGHT. SO PLEASE GET BACK TO US AS SOON AS POSSIBLE AND SEE THAT YOU PAY THIS MONEY SO THAT THESE BIRDS CAN GET THEIR VACCINES WRIGHT AWAY AND BE DELIVERED OK.
SORRY FOR THE THIS BUT WE CAN NOT DO UNDER WISE

Still… no birds. Nothing… and this was $260 later…

Then another email from Ann. This time she needed MORE MONEY for vet checks and bills because she couldn’t send them without getting them checked out. This is when Wendy drew the line and started doing her own research online. That’s when she found MY photos with the birds (who were renamed Vinny and Minny by Ann for ultimate scamming purposes) and contacted me via my email. I told her where she could find our videos, authentic websites and a link to our Flickr… all of which she had found on her own and knew Ann was not legit and she had lost her money for good.

Her new goal? To let ALL OF YOU know about her loss so you don’t face the same.

BEWARE OF THESE SCAMMER EMAIL ADDRESSES:

• interpetdelivers@in.com
• lewisann2009@live.com

TIPS FOR AVOIDING BEING SCAMMED:

When people just want a good home for their bird and will only charge you shipping, BE CAUTIOUS. Demand photos with DATE STAMPS, demand phone calls with the people you’re in contact with, demand to talk to the vet who checks the birds before shipping them. And when it’s international, you HAVE to complete paperwork so don’t believe the sender has it “all taken care of” because they can’t! It’s literally impossible, both parties HAVE to complete paperwork such as import/export permits and go through designated ports of entry. Vets have to check the animals at take off and landing destinations… it’s very in depth so don’t let anyone fool you.