Warning to Everyone

This is a warning to anyone that has been shopping the internet looking on "Kingsnake, craigslist, kijiji, or any other sites" A group out of South Africa has been posting some amazing deals, " Albino Pair 1000plus grams $300 " well they are scammers. They have a ton of post on trades and other deals and they seem pretty legit. I recently had a close friend come across one. The were wanting to sell a Pied male $500 He contacted them and talked over the phone. he paid via Walmart Money Gram. And as he recieved shipping information. There was a message stating that he needed to pay a insurance before the snake could be shipped. And the insurance is a $700 "refundable" money gram. so Now this unknown company is wanting to recieve another 700$ for a snake we have found to be some where in Africa. Well it was a scam. After searching the companys online there is a ton of post about this same situation but for all animals. "birds poodles snakes and so on" So this is just a warning that if you are contacting someone and they tell you " I just moved for work and i cant keep in my new apartment and I live in catramoon Africa then you could be following the same path as many others.

Known contact name is Maria Haitinez pron.crackers4u44@hotmail.com

Thanks for the heads up.

If a deal is too good to be true, it probably is. Only buy from trusted sellers. Use the fauna BOI to find out about sellers before buying from them.

Live and learn.

Thanks for the heads up, but hopefully one would be smart enough to know if something is too good to be true and run away from scams like that.

When things look too good to be true, they usually are. $300 for a large albino pair of $500 for a pied should be sending up red flags. I've seen similar ads and just laughed.

See in my eyes they do throw up red flags but there is a ton of people new to the whole reptile life and when i first started I didnt know worth of such snakes i saw the pretty pictures and thought hmmm not a bad price.

I talked to them about a leopard tort. I told them no thanks when I found out they were out of the USA.

Honestly, I would pick reputable breeders to buy snakes from. Dozens of them are active members here. They all seem very knowledgeable and nice. I am sure any of them can help you locate what you are looking for. And if it is something theyr expect to produce, I know many breeders will hold snakes with a down payment etc. And I would be much more giving a down payment to a snake breeder that is active in the BP.net community.

Yeah at first the ads were coming out of dallas. So had no clue they were shipping from out of the US until he received shipping and it was from the IATA in Africa. So he had send money to someone out of texas. which doesn't throw up a red flag. And i do agree about buying from reputable breeders but there is a ton of breeders out there trying to get there name out. Most people that are not local to where i live hasn't heard of me but I have been breeding snakes since 97. So sometimes we give small time people a chance and trust them.

They've been playing this scam for YEARS now. How's the saying go? If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

If I can't phone up the breeder I'm working with, and I've never heard of them before, I'd run very quickly the other way.

Usually the language of the ad is a dead giveaway. Sorry for your friend!

Oh, and BTW, REPUTABLE breeders aren't selling their morphs on Craigslist.

You'd have to be a complete tard to be taken by that ad. And running away from a breeder you've never heard of is a bit overly paranoid...they all had to start somewhere. How do you think these reputable breeders got their reputation? There are lots of small time hobby breeders (some you've probably never heard of) who sell quality animals for great prices because they don't have the big recognizable name, don't rely on the money for income, only deal locally therby limiting their customer base, etc...

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Originally Posted by sho220

You'd have to be a complete tard to be taken by that ad. And running away from a breeder you've never heard of is a bit overly paranoid...they all had to start somewhere. How do you think these reputable breeders got their reputation? There are lots of small time hobby breeders (some you've probably never heard of) who sell quality animals for great prices because they don't have the big recognizable name, don't rely on the money for income, only deal locally therby limiting their customer base, etc...

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Slowly re-read what I said:

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If I can't phone up the breeder I'm working with, and I've never heard of them before, I'd run very quickly the other way.

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More than likely, if it's a Cameroon scammer, I won't be able to phone them. If there's a new breeder I've never heard of, but I'm interested in an animal that they have, I'd like to be able to talk to them on the phone and get to know them a little better (especially if there's no feedback anywhere on them). If I can't call them, I'll pass.

Well said Robin. It only takes a quick scan of this forum to find people who purchased from someone over the net. When things went south they discovered they could not contact them by phone to discuss the problem. So they just got stuck with the results.

As has been stated, Cameroon scammers have been around for years. A friend of mine almost sent money for a hyacinth macaw before I talked her out of it. The ads are easy to pick out. The grammar is generally horrible, not just bad spelling, but stuff written completely out of order, and they often claim to have moved to Cameroon for work.

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Originally Posted by rabernet

Slowly re-read what I said:



More than likely, if it's a Cameroon scammer, I won't be able to phone them. If there's a new breeder I've never heard of, but I'm interested in an animal that they have, I'd like to be able to talk to them on the phone and get to know them a little better (especially if there's no feedback anywhere on them). If I can't call them, I'll pass.

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Sorry...poorly worded on my part. I wasn't singling you out...There's lots of people out there wearing their tin foil hats thinking everyone is out to screw them...

Thanks for the advice! If the deal is too good than meet in person!

Well i see alot of good points to everyones argument. I put this as a warning because this ad was from dallas. and the people were contacted by phone. The people that are scamming are using people that we can talk to every day, payment was sent to texas. it wasnt till shipping that we had any information it was out of country and by that time we all know the people with the ad could not be reached. but we have filed with the IG3 and local law enforcement. Money gram will only refund if local law decide to look into the scam.

I'm in South Africa and have not heard about this person....

But we do have a ton of scams here on our local listing sites, mostly from people in central africa that claim to breed pieds, bananas, albinos at ridiculously low low prices.....

We actually play a game here with this lot by emailing them and stringing them out for ages, they keep thinking they're gonna get a sale then we throw 'em a curve ball. A favourite is to ask for a picture of the snake feeding, or a picture of the snakes with a paper with todays date etc.....

They tend to just take pictures of morphs off google and reckon that we don't realise......

Sad thing is that they dupe a lot of people, the fact that there are so many ads and they keep coming means that there ARE people that get conned......

:rolleye2::rolleye2::rolleye2:

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Originally Posted by sho220

There's lots of people out there wearing their tin foil hats...

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Hey, I resemble that remark... :rofl:

Question: when they are advertising on kingsnake, they have the "Registered PetHobbyist User since ..." up on the right hand corner.

Do the scammers, once found to be a scammer, lose this part of their add? I don't know how kingsnake works, but do they ban that person from advertising again under that same name? I would assume so... I hope. I would tend to think people who have been on kingsnake for years would not pose quite the risk, but I could be wrong. I would think red flag if it said "Registered PetHobbyist User since YESTERDAY."

man scammers are eeverywere look at car lots that are fly by night ( or change owners fast) but yeah if I can't call a person or they call me I won't deal with them. I mean comeone everyone got a cell phone and with all these incalling plans/ unlimited calls programs it not hard to call a person.. I can all any one in the united states and talk for days and not cost me a dime now. which is sweet lol. It a shame I still single ( come on who has not met a female that likes talkngi on the phone lol)
Me I like to get theinfo I need, and get off sadly I also like this in a store get what I came after and get out of there .