‘Puppy scam’ to cost Canadians over $2M by end of year, agency says

So-called “puppy scammers” typically lure people with fake websites and promises of cute pets, then ask for funds via hard-to-track payment methods like smartphone apps.

It’s something the Better Business Bureau (BBB) started tracking in 2017, and found the pandemic led to Canadians losing more than $3 million. But the agency warns that scams are beginning to happen more often.

The average puppy scam costs a Canadian around $850, according to the BBB. The agency says that’s up 60 per cent from five years ago.

“It’s sad to say that people are losing shy of a thousand dollars potentially, that’s a lot of money for a family,” said Neesha Hothi, marketing director, the BBB.

Hothi says the holidays mark the peak season for scammers.

“People are setting up fake websites, or fake posts and saying ‘Hey we’ve had a new litter and look at these beautiful cute puppies, you know you want one for home’ or ‘Has your child been asking for a puppy and it’s holiday time, this is what we can do’ and so, they kind of get you roped into it,” she said.

“And they’ll tell you all the right things. They’ve done their research on knowing the information about the breed, information about their x-amount of weeks old.”

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Hothi says once they hook you in to pay the initial deposit, that’s when the scammers get creative.

“Then they come back at you and say, ‘oh you need to get shipping insurance’ or ‘you need to buy this special crate’ or ‘it’s going to cost extra, we didn’t realize,” she explained.

People looking to buy a puppy for the first time, Hothi points out, will often do so online.

“You think it’s reasonable, you almost think okay well, I guess I have to do this. This is not something their doing all the time so they might not know what a reasonable request is,” she said.

The BBB says it expects Canadian consumer losses to exceed more than $2M by the end of the year.

Hothi says it’s critical for consumers who encounter a scam to report it.

How do you avoid these scams? 

In terms of how to avoid getting scammed, the BBB has some tips.