The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers about some of the top scams to watch out for in 2022.
Heather Sommers loves her puppy, Cannoli. The problem is that she only got him after losing $900 on another dog that didn’t exist.
“I was shaking when it was happening. It’s heartbreaking,” Sommers says.
Sommers picked out a puppy from a website run by a so-called dog breeder. She realized that something was wrong when the breeder kept demanding more money, supposedly for a special air-conditioned crate. When Sommers called police, she learned that both the breeder and the dog were fake.
“We did what I thought were all the right things. We asked for proof of puppy. We were sent additional photos,” Sommers says.
Melissa Companick, of the Better Business Bureau, says that the puppy scam is one of the most common ones her agency sees on its scam tracker.
“You’re just going to be out the money. There is no puppy,” Companick says.
She advises consumers to buy pets in person, check the breeder’s references with the Better Business Bureau or Department of Consumer Affairs, and be aware of deals that seem too good to be true.
“When you’ve researched the type of animal that you want, and it should be one price and you find a really discounted price, that’s kind of red flag No. 1,” Companick says.
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