It starts with a photo — a big, doe-eyed close-up — of a kitten or puppy.
To many, the price seems impossibly low for that promise of fluffy affection.
That’s how to hook a buyer, and unscrupulous scammers know it.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) has logged 247 reports of pet scams in 2022 so far — a loss of about $217,453. In 2021, they say 507 victims were bilked for a total of $701,175.59.
Jeff Horncastle, acting client and communications outreach officer at the CAFC, says scammers take an average of $1,100 per victim.
“They’re playing on victims’ emotions and in a lot of cases, people are looking for companionship,” said Horncastle.
In 2020, the Better Business Bureau predicted pet scam losses could top $3 million per year across North America if the rise continues at the current pace.
Jessie St-Cyr, a communications manager for the BBB, says they’ve seen an uptick in the number of people caught in this scam since 2017.
“It’s a type of scam that we’ve noticed increased during the pandemic, obviously, because people were home and they had the time to take care of an animal, whether it was a dog or a cat,” she said.
In 2020, the BBB Scam Tracker tallied more than 4,000 reports of fraudulent pet websites. BBB is releasing updated figures on Dec. 6.
The pitch
Thomas Murray’s beloved long-haired rescue cat Hamish is dying of feline AIDS. So Murray — who lives north of Barrie, Ont. — said he’s been looking for a kitten, to both cheer Hamish up and help…
