Victim Location 23321
Total money lost $800
Type of a scam Online Purchase
After communicating with Classic Australian Shepherds for several days, and thinking that I did my due dilligence, I thought I bought a miniature austrailian shepherd on 7/26/2020. Their website is: https://classicaussies.com, they claim to be a "small family owned breeder" who care deeply for their puppies and raise them in their home with their kids. They claimed to operate from: 5706 E 109th St, Tulsa, OK 74137 / phone: (918) 351-7884. I communicated with someone claiming to be Michael Peterson and Arrey Ayang. I transferred them $800 thru Zelle pay for the puppy and cost of shipping. I thought I had done enough research and since I wanted the puppy as a pet and not to show or breed the lower cost of the puppy seemed reasonable. They offered to have me come pick up the puppy, however due to COVID I opted not to travel but to have it shipped. They said the puppy would be shipped on the next available flight to my location and that they provided a crate, toys, food, etc. along with all the paperwork, and that the cost of the shipping crate was included in the money I had paid.
They took my personal information and said she would send me a tracking number once they completed the paperwork and transferred registration of the puppy to me. They said I would receive an itinerary directly from the shipping company which is TransExpress Logistics
I received notice from the shipping company that the puppy was to be delivered on 7/28, however that the flight was on HOLD due to needing a thermal crate, they gave me options of three crates ranging from $950 – $1500 and stated that my money would be refunded upon delivery of the puppy. Not knowing what a thermal crate was I googled it and all sorts of reports on puppy scams came up…researching further I realized that I had been scammed, as everything in this companies emails were almost verbatim of what was listed on the sites about the scams. I immediately called my bank and filed a fraud claim and asked if there was anyway to recover my money – even though it had been sent via Zelle Pay, they are looking into it. I also emailed the company and asked for a full refund – since they stated on their website that they guaranteed a 100% refund during the first thirty days – I cited their website and informed them that I was not able to pay the additional requested funds to transport the puppy, as that was not part of the original agreement… as you can guess, I have had zero response from them. It is disgusting that people out there are doing this type of thing. I thought I had done adequate research and communicated extensively with these people, and still fell for their scam. They even said at one point in their emails that "money is hard to come by now days and every penny should be saved where it can be" UGH!!! I had been saving for months to get my daughters a puppy, they had recently lost someone they were very close to in their lives and I was hoping the puppy would them. I hope by posting this it helps keep others from going through something similar.