Quote Originally Posted by owl307 View Post
So it starts off like this. There was an ad on craigslist of some one selling pieds for $250 each. I replied curious if there were any females. The person replied under the name Anabell Dockery saying she had 4 available, 2 males and two females. She gave me a list of their names and weights along with many pictures included. Nothing seemed out of order until I went to pay. All the sudden she is in Utah and is using an animal shipping company to fly her to me. I didnt think too much of it...
because I was blinded and greedy at the thought of getting a pied ball python at a price insanely under market
...until she had me send the agreed upon amount to Cameroon through Western Union. Then I started to look into things. of course i had already sent the money like an idiot.
Your words not mine.

I can find absolutely no info on any Altamark animal transport services.
Because it doesn't exist.

Now they want a $500 insurance fee to deliver her claiming they will give me $470 back when they drop her off at my house.
Because scammers know there are people dumb enough to throw good money after bad.

I refused saying I needed to see evidence of the snake, testimonials, ect and they never gave me a direct reply on pushing me to pay the extra $500. BUT they did say if i did not receive my snake or money they would allow me to take legal action and pay back double.
Well isn't that just peachy keen swell of them! Never mind that there is no way they can stop you from taking legal action... though if you were truly dumb enough to send the money via Western Union to Cameroon then legally they're untouchable, and they know it.

Now im at a stand still. the person has offered to pay 300$ of the insurance fee today and if i pay the extra 200 she will be delivered with in the next four hours. Im at a complete loss at what to do
Because this scammer is hoping... no, PRAYING... that you will be dumb enough to send another $200. Or even $100. Or $50. Anything you send to them is gravy. There are no pied ball pythons for sale. There never were.

Stop. Just stop. Do not send another dime. When you fall prey to these scams you are funding criminal enterprises in Africa. You know, the super nice folks that engage in piracy, child slavery and prostitution, weapons dealing, etc. They look at the US as cash cow to be exploited, nothing more.