Beware pet travel scams!
Looking for your next pet online? Beware of the pet scammers.
Unfortunately, pet scammers do exist and they seem to be on-going in their efforts to take
advantage of genuine people looking for their pet online. It can happen to anyone so it is
important to learn how to spot the signs so you can avoid becoming a victim.
Signs to look out for that you are dealing with a pet scammer
These scammers often use legitimate pet transport companies name and logo’s on pirate
websites to appear genuine pet transporters. One of the main differences will be that they
will use third party domains such as gmail or facebook for their communications rather than
a company using a URL (for example: info@company.co.nz)
The pets offered are usually free or inexpensive, often the more exotic breeds and they just
charge for the transportation of these pets to you. In most cases there is no pet and no
transportation arranged. If you see an advertisement like this, it most likely is a scam.
Scammers usually ask for payment to overseas bank accounts or through international
payment options like Western Union. These are often not traceable and non-refundable.
They tend to avoid recognised credit card merchant systems or payment systems like
Paypal. We strongly advise to thoroughly check out and research the company prior to
making any payments. Give them a call if necessary to check all is as it should be.
Often, if the offer is too good to be true, it probably is.
Pet transporters like Aero Pets NZ Ltd do not sell pets.
