This is a hilarious one guys. The latest scam here in New Zealand and its netting in many is the Puppy scam. It goes

1. A person claiming to live Locally (In our case New Zealand) wants to sell you their purebreed and/or desirable puppies at a rate substantially cheaper than their true value (Pedigree pups go for $500 - $2,000 depending on breed, most like Labradors, Pekingese, Chihuahuas, Maltese etc are around the low $1000's per dog). They will show pictures of themselves and the puppies (Both will be stolen off the net using genuine pictures). The names they use may ring alarm bells as they sound bizarre like Messy Benson (The main scammer doing the rounds in NZ), another Moore John and Edwards William (As if these did not sound dodgy enough).

The usual colourful Yoruba and Igbo names are absent as in their attempt into fooling people that they may be locals rather than Africans

2. They will advertise on Trade Me (Our version of ebay and Craigslist) and even set up Facebook pages to show photos and provide an address to contact,usually a cheap free one from Hotmail, gmail, yahoo etc. Often this will be a hacked or compromised account.

3. They will make you pay the cost of the dogs to a Western Union agency most likely in Nigeria or a nearby West African country (If you are not getting the alarm bells, now something is wrong).

4. After receiving your money, you are told you need to pay so many dollars for flying them across from Nigeria or Cameroon to your home country

5. Then if you are still hanging on, the puppy will no doubt develop a medical problem and more money needs to be sent to pay the vet bills

6. Then more fees for all the following - quarantine, bribes, cages, companions, sorting, baggage handlers, paperwork, smugglers, transfers, you name it, they can go into thousands. Most people realise this is a scam but some still hang on.

7. If you sometimes really luck out, the scammer tells you that the puppy died on the flight or died just before takeoff, or they disappear completely.

But you realise, there was no puppies, it was merely a cleverly disguised Nigerian Advance fee scam, by the time you realised you were duped, you are out of pocket for thousands.

You would wonder who would be dumb enough to buy a puppy from Nigeria, but I know the Messy Benson scam has caught out at least 10 people wanting puppies for Xmas (A stupid time to get a pet, as most will neglect and discard them as they get older - animals are responsibility not a fxxken Xmas gift ). Its quite cleverly done, but a mean spirited and horrible scam.

Is it common where you are and do you know anyone who has been sucked in by it?

Any business venture involving Nigeria should be avoided like the plague.

So I am not getting a miniature giraffe? They said only $500 more dollars US to delever? Should I NOT seed the money?

They had a photo and everyting!

Shyra said:

Any business venture involving Nigeria should be avoided like the plague.

especially if they are selling rodent fleas! I will not make that mistake again!

Nigerian scams are like the plague.