Victim Location 94560
Total money lost $1,500
Type of a scam Online Purchase
My boyfriend and I had decided that we wanted to purchase a Mainecoon kitten. After some research I came across Joy Maine [censored] which looked to be a very reputable site. Their website looks very real and very legit. They have testimonies from other customers as well as pictures of the kittens. All the things that you truly feel a regular seller would have. I emailed them about a kitten named Simba. As it stated I do if I found a kitten I was interested in. Once I reached out to the I got an email that following morning stating all the info about Simba as well as much as his cost would be and what he would include. Here is what it said “Hi ,
Thanks for the interest in our Maine [censored] kitten. Simba is still available and ready to go to a new home. he has been recently Vet-checked & 100% Healthy, de-wormed, on shots, and potty trained. We offer one year health guarantee and also offer free life time support and advice for all customers especially first time cat owners to ensure your kitten is healthy and has a long life expectancy for the love and concern we have for all our litters and also recommend a constant update of all our kittens in their new homes to be sure they are well taken care of.
We sell Simba for $300 but firstly, We will appreciate you getting back to us with the answers to the following inquiries below before we proceed with the adoption process to be sure your house can make a good home for him.
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT OUR KITTEN
Pet Name : Simba
Breed : Maine [censored] kitten
Sex : Male
Age : 10 Weeks
*Price : **$300
Additional information: Absolutely ADORABLE,
Simba is a very pleasant cat to have as a companion. He is easy going,love to climb on my wife laps when watching tv. Simba is a fiercely loyal, loving cat and will attach himself to every one of his family members.He loves to play, He doesn’t need hourly attention. If he is in the mood to play, he will find someone and bring a toy to that person.Simba also plays well by himself, and he is a good companion for single people.
ADOPTION REQUIREMENTS!!!
Getting a good home for him is the most essential thing we have ever wanted. So i have some few questions for you which I hope you get back to me with the answers sincerely. I just want to make sure that he is getting into the right home. Hope you don’t mind?
-Where precisely are you located ?
-Have you ever raised or owned a cat before?
-Do you have a near by vet clinic in your area ?
-Does your environment accepts pets ?
-How soon do you need him ?
-Your contact number will be appreciated
We are sorry for the questions, its just that we prefer a caring family, as the answers would help us to know if your home would be the best place for him as all we need is just a new loving and caring home for the baby.
We will also like to let you know that we do NOT place any of our kittens in homes that will practice unprofessional breeding for Money making with little or no love and care giving to them. All our kittens are re-homed for PET PURPOSES ONLY. So as long as you can make us understand that you will share the love in your homes with these kittens, we will consider placing one or more of our kittens to your home.
https://www.joymainecoons.com/available-kittens
Text or call me at (726) 888-6046
Best Regards.”
Due to the fact we don’t live in Texas they state they are located we would need Simba delivered to us. Which they stated that they did. Hans Pena (the man I spoke with) said that they took care of all the traveling set up and all it would do would add $198 to the price of the kitten. Truthfully $500 for a regularly $1000 didn’t sound terrible. So we decided to go ahead and purchase little Simba. After Zelle transferring the money to Hans Pena he said to give him about 2 hours to to get all the papers signed over and get in touch with the travel agency that they use. After about 2 hours I received a text that everything was finalized and then informed me the Carrier would email me a tracking number and all the information on Simbas arrival. About 30 minutes later I received the email along with a phone call from my “representative” who just wanted to call make sure we got the email and basically told me he would keep me updated on information about Simba along his travel from Texas to Ca. His leaving time was 2:30 and his arrival time was 9:30. About 1 hour after the first email I received another email from Multipet Logistics (the carrier company) stating that unfortunately the crate that the kitten was traveling was not big enough and didn’t mean flying standards. They gave us 3 options of crates we could rent and stated that once the kitten was delivered we would receive that money back. I was a little skeptical at first. I mean the seller stated they handled and took care of All of that. I told the guy I was really confused on why we needed to do this especially when the website states they have crates that they use they don’t need to be bought or rented.he assured me that I would get my money back. He recommended I get the 088pd crate that was $998. He wanted me to go to a Walgreens or an ATM machine and wire transfer him the money. I told him no that I wasn’t comfortable doing a wire transfer and the only way I would do it is if we could track the funds. He put me on hold to “talk to the cashiers” and then got back to me saying I could use Zelle. I texted Hans Pena asking if this was normal. And he stated that “yes sometimes this happens. Don’t worry about it. Just pay. You’ll be happy once baby arrives.” So still even a little Skeptical I payed the $998 and just hoped for the best. At around 4:30 2 hours after my kitten was suppose to be on the way I received another phone call stating that my kitten needed urgent Documents that weren’t brought with him and in order for me to receive my kitten I had to pay $1250! I was literally in shock. I told the carrier no. That all of the documents were suppose to be handled by the seller and he would have to get in touch with him because I never agreed upon that. He told his name was Maxwell and they were a reputable company and that they wouldn’t put their name on the line to pull a scam. I told him that I wasn’t referring to being scammed why jump to that conclusion. He then started to get very hostile and argue with me about how I absolutely had to pay that. The money w I’ll be returned what is the big deal. When I told him that I didn’t understand why I had to pay for documents when that was suppose to be taken care of and that he needed to contact the seller because I wasn’t paying $1250. Especially with not even having the cat in hand he immediately hung up on me. If you are so reputable and such a great company why are you employees hanging up on customers? Why not have me speak to a manager? Once that happened I reached out to Joy Maine [censored] owner Hans Pena and informed him of what was going on. He then began to plea and beg with me to just pay the $1250 that it wasn’t a big deal. I informed Hans that if it wasn’t a big deal then why didn’t he pay. He stated that unfortunately they only had $550 to their name and they could only put forward that much. After much arguing back in forth I told Hans Pena that they either needed to pay the $1250 and provide all the documents as was discussed or I would lien a refund on my kitten. I didn’t hear a single word back. I then received an email from the Multipet Logistics company stating they would take legal action against me if I didn’t pay the $1250. The email read “DEAR CLIENT WE ARE WE UNDERSTAND YOUR WORRIES BUT IF WE DONT GET THIS DONE THEN YOUR KITTEN WILL BE STORK HERE ON TRANSIT AND IF AFTER 14 HOURS NOTHING IS DONE THEN THEY WILL HAVE TO QUARANTINE YOUR KITTEN THEN CHARGE YOU FOR PET ABANDONMENT ,MORE YOU KNOW THAT ALL THE FUNDS WILL BE FULLY REFUNDED TO YOU ON DELIVERY OF YOUR KITTEN
IN REGARDS TO HOW YOU SHOULD GO ABOUT WITH THE PAYMENT YOU HAVE OUR ZELLE INFORMATION ONCE YOU ARE DONE WITH THE PAYMENT SEND US A SCREEN SHOT VIA EMAIL ,AND ONCE THEY DOCUMENTS ARE DONE WE WILL EMAIL YOU COPIES OF THE DOCUMENTS OK
THINK ABOUT THIS
THANK YOU FOR USING MULTIPET LOGISTICS AND WE PROMISE YOU A SAFE DELIVERY OF YOUR KITTEN”
At this point I started to do a lot of digging. If you look up the address they gave me as well as other pet carrier sites about scams the stories match up perfectly. As well as the Multipet logistics company IP address they gave me is different from the IP address of the actual Multipet Logistics website. Unfortunately I fell victim to Joy Maine [censored] And am out $1500 and no kitten. Don’t fall prey to their Scam.