SocialGoldenRetreivers

Rose – Apr 23, 2020

Victim Location 33157

Total money lost $600

Type of a scam Online Purchase

Socialgoldenretrievers.com is acting fraudulently. I have been scammed out of $600 for a golden retriever puppy. This ordeal took place over a three day period. We made initial contact via the website by completing a short questionnaire. We were immediately replied to via email from “Johnson Lionel” who claims to be the owner of Social Golden Retrievers. We inquired about a specific dog “Diago” – we were told the price would be $600 and shipping would be free. He asked for the full amount upfront whereby I offered to send a good faith $300 deposit and the balance upon the receipt of the puppy. He agreed and then was very sketchy about how he would like to receive the money; he even sent details for me to do a wire transfer to a random account with the name of a Rabbi – he finally agree on Venmo and promised the puppy would be sent out the following morning arriving in Miami Airport at 4:45pm. Upon contacting him the following morning, he hesitated in replying but then replied saying he would now have to wait 72hrs before shipping the puppy allowing the Venmo to clear his account / I now know this is not true as after opening a fraud case with Venmo they say it hits his account immediately. Although I can’t get my money back from Venmo they claim they have frozen the Venmo account I sent funds to (@joolee-rose) and all associated accounts pending an investigation.

Upon receipt of the email with the 72hr delay I asked him if there was any way to expedite the shipping of the puppy as we had made all preparations to travel to the airport that day. He said the only way he could promise that the puppy could be sent the FOLLOWING morning would be if I purchased a Vanilla Visa Gift Card for $300 (he was very specific in that it had to be a VANILLA brand Visa) and sent him a picture via email of the front/back of gift card along with receipt of purchase. I hesitantly obliged as I guess or emotions had gotten the best of us. In the meantime, my son who is in law school had a buddy email this guy and ask about the specific dog we had just purchased a few days prior – Mr. Lionel immediately responded that YES, Diago is in fact available for purchase. We immediately knew at that point we had been scammed. I went ahead and contacted the number on the back of the Vanilla Visa card and opened up another fraud case and inactivated the card before he was able to use it. Not having knowledge of my actions and still having promised the puppy would be sent the following morning, I followed up via email the next morning inquiring about the details of the puppy’s shipment. He actually responded saying shipment was still scheduled and I would have details by 10am; hence I never received them and followed up with an email calling him out and accepting the fact that I did know I was NOT getting the puppy today or any other day in the future – have not received text and/or email since that was sent. PLEASE PLEASE TAKE THIS WEBSITE DOWN AS THEY ARE SCAMMING INNOCENT PEOPLE AND PREYING ON THEIR TRUST AND LOVE OF ANIMALS!!! I can’t believe that during the times this country is currently experiencing you have individuals like this doing this kind of thing.

Should you require further information please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly.

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