Scammers, ugh

[Minimaker]

It simply amazes me that these people do this sort of thing. I see it all over the internet. Craigslist especially. What really gets me is that some people are so trusting they believe this stuff and try to make deals with these scammers. This Chicago guy says he has all the really rare expensive birds he's selling for $800 each "because he has to move and can't take the birds with him". A $14,000 bird for $800? As if! Someone actually posted a message to him thinking he was legit asking about his $800 toucans. Is there a place on this website for legitimate breeders, rescues, or safe places to buy parrots? Because so many people don't know where to start. It would be a great resource for newbies if there was a place to start looking when they decide to get a bird.

Active Black Palm Cockatoos parrots

 

[JerseyWendy]

Report the scammers whenever possible. Yes, it's a huge PITA to do it, and they will be back with a new name, new pictures, new birds, but my conscience never allows me to leave the obvious scammers alone, especially because I don't want anyone getting robbed.

It's a sad world we live in. Scams like this are everywhere.

 

[MikeyTN]

Your best bet is legit breeders. And of course they'll come with a price tag. I personally don't like the idea of shipping birds. I want to see them in person.

 

[Minimaker]

Report the scammers whenever possible. Yes, it's a huge PITA to do it, and they will be back with a new name, new pictures, new birds, but my conscience never allows me to leave the obvious scammers alone, especially because I don't want anyone getting robbed.

It's a sad world we live in. Scams like this are everywhere.

Ok I reported him. He's got ads all over that thing though. I wonder how often people get took like this I look out of curiosity when I'm bored, not because I'm shopping. Do we have a place here with legit breeder or rescue info for other people though? I need to go look around the forum further.

 

[JerseyWendy]

I do the occasional browsing myself, and we all know my cave is filled to the brim.

Yes, there is a reputable site. BirdBreeders.com - Bird Breeders Directory of Availability and Parrot Breeders
I'm not saying that site has zero scammers, but it offers feedback for sellers and such.

I always recommend talking to a potential breeder / seller numerous times, asking as many questions as you can think of. I also like using PayPal as it protects both the buyer and the seller.

 

[Dopey]

Report the scammers whenever possible. Yes, it's a huge PITA to do it, and they will be back with a new name, new pictures, new birds, but my conscience never allows me to leave the obvious scammers alone, especially because I don't want anyone getting robbed.

It's a sad world we live in. Scams like this are everywhere.

Ok I reported him. He's got ads all over that thing though. I wonder how often people get took like this I look out of curiosity when I'm bored, not because I'm shopping. Do we have a place here with legit breeder or rescue info for other people though? I need to go look around the forum further.

I saw the same guy I think the other day. He advertised in PA and then told me he was located in Texas. Fortunately I have friends and family in Texas and he stopped e-mailing me after I told him that. The guy certainly gets around.

 

[IamJolyn]

I had a similar thing happen, but this woman had a pair of hyacinths for $400 bucks, plus shipping costs. I knew it was a scam, but I kept talking to her, she ended up telling me she was in LA California (and she posted on a Cheyenne Wyoming fb for sale site, where I live now) and I was like wonderful! I have family about an hour and half away, they could come get the pair. She wanted me to send the shipping payment of $500 to this company that specialized in animal shipping. She blocked me as soon as I told her I (truthfully) had family near her. I had saved all our conversation and reported her. But yeah they just pop up like wack-a-mole

 

[Birdman666]

I wonder if that black palm cockatoo is named after a Nigerian Prince...

Seriously, anyone who falls for these sorts of thing in this day and age, was born yesterday.

Black Palm Cockatoos, IF you can find one, usually have a fairly long waiting list. (Rachel waited two years for her bird.)

Hys, these days are around ten grand. And when you pay ten grand for a bird, two to four grand for a stainless steel cage, etc. you generally know what you're doing, and you're keeping it for life. If you do rehome it, it's usually through the breeder, or with somone you know and trust...

TOUCANS?! First of all, if you buy a "used Toucan" they are such diet sensitive birds, that you'd be a fool to begin with. Iron Storage disease is no joke with these guys... they're extremely diet sensitive, and if fed wrong, they die. That's a bird you raise yourself from a young age... assuming you have the right enclosure, and want to deal with the feeding, and the liquid poop... (I enjoyed playing with the Toco. Don't want to own one. MY parrots are enough work as it is.)

 

[Dopey]

Ok - on part of that I agree but there is another side to my story. Early this year I was looking on Craigslist and found a "green" bird for sale. That "green" bird is now part of my flock and it is a Severe Macaw (I know how you feel about them). The person advertising the bird really didn't know she was selling a macaw. So, the other day I'm cruising CL again and I see a B&G advertised. The picture was a Hy. It was a scam but the whole time I was talking e-mailing with the guy he kept referring to it as a B&G. Some people don't know what they are selling and sometimes you get lucky. I love my Severe and I'm so glad that I kept my eyes open for a "green" bird.

 

[Birdman666]

Well that's different from someone advertising a black palm too for sale for $800 bucks.

Obvious scam.

You don't find BP2's on Craig's list, or scambreeder sites.

These birds are hard to come by, and the breeders all have waiting lists. ONE PHONE CALL and the bird is sold to someone else, for a significant sum of money.

Simply put, they are almost never advertised for sale.

 

[Dopey]

The scammer seem to be all over the place right now though. Is that normal for this time of year?

 

[Birdman666]

Scamming seems to be a year round activity. BUT they are now using spyware software as well. Sometimes, even if you don't buy the scam, by clicking on the link, you get the bug that goes with it.

THEN WHEN YOU GO CHRISTMAS SHOPPING ON LINE, THEY GET YOUR PERSONAL DATA, AND IDENTITY THEFT YOU!

Someone actually falling for the scam is just a bonus... You see more at Christmas time because that's when people do the most online shopping.

HOPEFULLY YOUR VIRUS PROTECTION CATCHES IT.

 

[Dopey]

Ugh! I knew there was a reason I didn't do on line shopping. Shhh, I use a pretty secure computer but sometimes I use my Kindle. I do not shop using my Kindle.

 

[sonja]

I think it's important to keep warning people - while it seems obvious to us, a new person, or a young person who has never experienced a scam before, may be taken. My daughter just last week got caught up talking to someone about a job she was excited about. Thankfully she showed me the ad before things went too far, and I immediately recognized it as a scam, but she's just starting out looking for a job so didn't know what to be wary of.

 

[StephenAndKyleigh]

Scams aren't a joke. We've gotta be safe, with anything we buy from sites like Craigslist and breeder sites. I would've gotten robbed and taken away. Thankfully my brother, a local police man, was a car behind me and saw what was happening. At that time I was selling a motorcycle on Craig's list. The guys pointed a gun and grabbed my keys. And then out comes super hero big brother.

True story.
Be safe.

 

[RavensGryf]

THEN WHEN YOU GO CHRISTMAS SHOPPING ON LINE, THEY GET YOUR PERSONAL DATA, AND IDENTITY THEFT YOU!

I'm not an online shopper, but I thought I'd ask since Pay Pal seems pretty popular these days. How safe is that with customer's information against hackers and thieves?

 

[JerseyWendy]

I'm not an online shopper, but I thought I'd ask since Pay Pal seems pretty popular these days. How safe is that with customer's information against hackers and thieves?

We've had our Ebay account compromised ONCE in 7 years, but NEVER our PayPal account (knock on wood). We ARE very careful with logins and passwords.

 

[Dinosrawr]

I'm an avid online shopper, but I've grown up with computers as well as online activity and have learned to be skeptical of anything on the Internet. But that's also why I only ever trust "corporate giants", if you will, because of their refund and security policies. And when it comes to animals online... well, a quick phone call to the person can certainly bring things to light. Scammers rarely have a strong back story, and it's easy to catch someone in a lie if you talk to them more than once.

It's also important to know what your bank's protection policy is if anything online happens, because they protect your money and information as well. In Canada, the general rule of thumb is 30-60 days of protection from the time of the incident, depending on the bank/policy. So if you choose to shop online, call your card company and determine how they can protect you if anything goes wrong.

But back on topic, I think novelty birds are easy to scam people with to a certain degree. Lots of people love the idea of having a Hy, Buffons, BP2, etc. without having to pay a hefty price. IMO the "hefty" price is a bit necessary because it deters individuals from making a small initial purchase on an animal that has a massive cost of upkeep, or prevents individuals from just flipping a bird to make a profit.

General rule of thumb: if it's too good to be true, chances are it is!

 

[Taw5106]

Four years ago I got my first taste of online scammers. We wanted to get an English Bulldog so I started looking up breeders in our area but lots of EB ads popped up, only $500 plush shipping. I was very surprised so I answered one ad just to see how all this worked and an EB being that cheap, really? The seller only wanted to talk by email, said he was in Tennessee, kept pushing for me to send $750.00 and I kept pressing to talk to this person because now it was a challenge for me, I wanted to see how far this person was willing to go. He agreed to a call but said his phone was broken so his voice would sound funny. Now Husband was intrigued too and wanted to join the call. The call never happened, the scammer shut down communicating. We never intended to send money, we really wanted to learn about what was clearly a scam.

So we found a breeder close to us, we were allowed to come and visit Canelo whenever we wanted. We got to interact with the adult dogs and all the babies. We received receipts for Canelo and his papers. The breeder asked if he could take a pic of us with Canelo and put it on his site so Husband did. We stay in touch with the breeder too. This to me is how it should be with any seller of animals even if it starts online, it should end up being face to face.

This is a great topic especially with the holidays starting. I shop online but very choosy of what sites I use. I also do not online shop on any of our Windows or Android devices, only Apple. All computers are susceptible to viruses but I've never had an issue when shopping online with my iPad or iPhone.

 

[Christinenc2000]

A good add on to use it https://www.mywot.com/ Web of trust. It only works with Firefox. I use to work online removing virus and malware. Not much time to do it anymore. Web of trust will let you know if a site is unsafe and will not let you enter that site unless you said Oh heck lets do it anyway. Then you are nuts lol

I never use windows explorer . Only Firefox