Victim Location 95223
Total money lost $1,000
Type of a scam Online Purchase
PREMIUM LABRADOR INTERNET SCAM
On Monday, August 31, 2020, I went onto the website https://premiumlabradors.com/ and found a Chocolate Labrador Retriever available for sale named Max that I wanted to purchase. It was advertised 50% off at $1000. I filled in the CONTACT US form and waited.
On Tuesday, September 1, 2020 at 11:36AM, I received a text from Premium Labradors (Phone No. 509-287-1644) and we began a dialog. They sent me more photos and answered most of my questions. I decided to purchase the puppy named MAX for $1000. This included shipping from Seattle, Washington, Registration papers, climate controlled crate, and delivery to my door in Arnold. They said the puppy would arrive late afternoon on Wednesday, September 2, 2020.
They required payment in full before they proceeded further. At approximately 1:00 pm, I used Zelle through Bank America to transfer the $1000 from my Checking Account to [email protected] The individual name for the Zelle transfer was Chiderra Akunwafor. Once I made the transfer, they required me to send a screen shot of the Zelle page showing the transaction was completed.
Then they sent me an Adoption Form to fill out. I filled that out and emailed it to [email protected]
At 2:34 they sent me a text saying they were heading out to register the dog for shipping. At 3:33 they indicated they were done and gave me the following Tracking No:
Tracking #: WA6136513819CA
Shipper Website: Lancelotshipping.com
I checked the Tracking No on the Lancelot Shipping website and the puppy was due to ship at 8:30 am on Wednesday, September 2. They said that before the puppy can ship, the shipping company needed to review the puppy’s paperwork and run some medical tests to make sure it was fit to fly. I thought everything was all set to go but then on Wednesday at 9:32 am I received an email from Lancelot Shipping (email address [email protected]) requiring $1500 for insurance to cover the puppy for the flight. They indicated I would receive a refund once the puppy was delivered.
I had been texting Premium Labradors all morning inquiring about the shipping crate but never got a response. Then I texted Premium Labradors about this $1500 charge for insurance from the shipping company, they never responded. Then I received several phone calls from Lancelot Shipping (Phone No. 509-639-5630) asking me if I read the email, and stating that they cannot ship the puppy until they receive $1500 for the insurance. I could barely understand the individual due to a stong Indian accent. At this point I was suspicious and looked up “Premium Labradors Scam” on google and saw that they had scammed people in the past. I found the same information for Lancelot Shipping.
Websites indicating Premium Labradors and Lancelot Shipping are involved in Puppy Scams:
<span title="https://puppyscam.com/labradors/premiumlabradors-com-labradors-breeder-scam-review/
https://puppyscam.com/labradors/premiumlabradors-com-labradors-breeder-scam-revi…⇄ />
https://petscams.com/puppy-scammer-list/premiumlabradors-com/
https://www.scampulse.com/lancelot-shipping-reviews
I continued to try calling and texting Premium Labradors the rest of the morning but no response. At this point I knew I had lost my $1000 for the puppy. I did not pay the $1500 for the insurance.
I contacted Bank of America and informed them of the scam and inquired what can be done with the $1000 transferred via Zelle They will perform an investigation and try to get the $1000 back, but the receiver has to approve the return of the money. They told me the money was transferred to Federal Credit Union (I believe). B of A will get back to me in a few days to report their findings. While I was on the phone with B of A, Premium Labradors sent me 3 texts as follows:
Hello
Sorry am at work
What’s up
I never heard anything back. Screen shots of the whole text conversation are available.
Victim Location 59720
Total money lost $2,500
Type of a scam Online Purchase
Fraudulent “Puppy” Scam:
For the past few months, while I have been recovering from a Stage IV Cancer diagnosis and multiple major surgeries (4 since MAR 2020), I have been researching potential puppies as support partners. I chose a Labrador retriever as the “right” partner for my remaining time on the Earth.
After an exhaustive search for the “right” puppy, I found a silver/grey female lab in Seattle, WA. Premier Labradors. (ALL information on the Breeder and Transportation Company are below).
Upon contacting Premier Labradors, I was notified by Kwesi Tuffour of Premier Labradors, that the puppy in question was available and ready for purchase and delivery. The cost = $1,000 (US). Credit Cards were not accepted by the breeder; so, only “CashApp” or “Zelle” (both widely accepted applications for payment) were available for use. Contacting my bank (First Horizon), they recommended Zelle, due to the link that it has with the existing First Horizon online banking platform. I paid $1,000 to Kwesi Tuffour using the Zelle application (SEE BELOW). This was to include the cost of the puppy, the up-to-date vaccinations, and the travel expense to deliver the puppy to Bozeman International Airport in Montana. Having done this for my last lab from Iowa, and did my due diligence, and found no “red flags”. The Zelle payment for $1000 was delivered on August 24, 2020 (SEE BELOW). For the next few hours, I received text messages from Kwesi Tuffour confirming receipt of payment, and details pertaining to the delivery (SEE BELOW). No “red flags” were apparent to me at this time.
On Aug 25, 2020, at 5:43pm MST, I received an email from Lancelot Shipping (SEE BELOW), stating that due to the coronavirus epidemic and the age of the puppy, all pets were being tested for “normal” travel diseases (being confined with other pets, etc. during travel), and I would receive the results within 12 hours. At the completion of this, the animal would be ticketed and all details would be forwarded to me via email. I received the email in the early hours of Aug 26, 2020. (SEE BELOW).
The first “red flag” occurred the evening prior, when Lancelot Shipping requested an additional $1500 for an “insurance policy” to cover the animal during delivery, that would be completely refunded AT DELIVERY (SEE EMAIL BELOW). The details made some sense (especially during this quarantine/epidemic. Upon receiving the “results” email in the early hours of Aug 26, 2020 (BELOW), all the “red flags” were turned on. They asked for more $$$$ due to the needed vaccinations and the upgrade of the traveling “cart” because of the extended time period needed for delivery and testing. (SEE BELOW). I immediately tried to contact Premier Labrador and Kwesi Tuffour, but to no avail (SEE INFO BELOW).
After contacting Lancelot Transportation again and asking for either a FaceTime or live video of the animal, the “employee” told me that I would not get reimbursed for any $$$ until the delivery occurred. I immediately tried Premier Labradors again (no answer). I then contacted my bank and asked for information on Zelle and potential reimbursement.
I have not been contacted by either Premier Labradors or Lancelot Shipping since this email.