Pet lovers seeking new canine companions are often surprised, and sometimes discouraged, to discover how expensive a purebred puppy or dog can be. Purebreds can cost anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars, not including veterinary, shipping and pedigree costs.

That’s why the Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona is cautioning consumers to watch out for classified ads offering purebred puppies for free or at prices that seem too good to be true.

Classified ads have been appearing in newspapers around the country offering free Yorkshire terrier puppies – a breed that typically sells for $250-$2,000 apiece.

Puppy scams often hook people with offers of free puppies, collect money for bogus fees, such as shipping or ‘ownership transfer,’ and then never deliver the advertised puppies or dogs.

Many of these scams originate in Africa, especially Cameroon. This May a student in Minnesota lost over $1,000 to one of these scams when they tried to purchase a puppy online. The business listed itself as having a Minneapolis address but was actually operating out of Cameroon.

The BBB offers the following tips to avoid scams when you’re looking to adopt or sell a pet:

• Beware of ads with multiple misspellings and grammatical errors; many pet scams come from (more…)