# The woman on Petfind is a scam



## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

Earlier today, IAmAMomtoMissy posted about two pups on Petfinder. I sent this woman an email. Within 15 minutes, I got a reply. I sent a second email which was followed by a phone number. I am fuming!!!
I will say that I held my tongue and only called her a broker, and said I didn't want to support an operation such as this. OK for the story....

This woman is a nonprofit. If I buy the pup from her for $600 It is tax deductable. She goes to these breeders and gets these pups out of the breeding program. In the case of the pup I inquired about, she said she knew that she and her brother would be sold into a breeding situation, so she purchased them to keep them from being bred. They were housed in an air conditioned building at the breeders in cages, stacked three high. They lived there all the time. She felt that by going to buy the pups and putting them in her "rescue" it would prevent them from being bred. Now, if my friend wants one like her, she can get her one too. She said this was one of the better breeders in the area she works with.
Want to know what informaiton they want on me? A vet reference. I told her that I had changed vets and he didn't know much about me. She didn't seem to mind. I asked if she wanted a home visit, and she said they didn't usually do that, but she could probably find someone through another rescue to do it. Now, I do home visits for rescue, and I would hate to think that they are using people like me to do home visits just so they can sell dogs.
This place needs to be reported. It is a broker, selling dogs, and it's nonprofit, so there is a tax deduction for the buyer. SCAM







SCAM














SCAM


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## jude'n'jools (Apr 6, 2006)

That is so sad







these people are steeping so low it is unbelievable


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## I found nemo (Feb 23, 2006)

Even me who knows nothing about breeding, rescue, or anything, was wondering why they would charge 600 dollars.. People are slime ...I would like to meet her in a dark alley




















Andrea~


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## k/c mom (Oct 9, 2004)

AND how does she know that you won't put them in stacked cages and breed them. What a bunch of BS!!!!


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## HappyB (Feb 28, 2005)

> AND how does she know that you won't put them in stacked cages and breed them. What a bunch of BS!!!![/B]



She doesn't because when I questioned her about the contract, she mentioned the pup would have to be spayed, but gave no further information. Since I live in another state, I doubt that she could enforce it if I had wanted one for breeding. She didn't know the type registration the dog had. In fact, she didn't know much about it. It was nine weeks old and 1 1/2 pounds. She saw the parents in their cages. That was it.
I wish there was some way to report her to Petfinder so they would stop her from doing this free advertising. By the way, she said she got a lot of emails wanting these dogs. She did stress that if I got it, I would get a tax write off since she is non profit. That part needs to be stopped too.


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## k/c mom (Oct 9, 2004)

> > index.php?act=findpost&pid=210468
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> 
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> ...


I reported it to Petfinder. I basically said that selling puppies was not really in the spirit of what the site is all about. However, if she is a legitimate non-profit and is touting herself as a rescue org., Petfinder may not have any recourse. She is the worst of the worst! If she really cared and was really a rescue her price and policies would be much different.


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## kwaugh (May 8, 2006)

If she is non-profit and you can deduct it on your taxes, wouldn't she have to provide you with her tax id number for your tax purposes? And if so, couldn't you use that to report her? Also, isn't there a guide line used for rescue purposes in terms of how much a person can charge for adoption fees? Or is that not regulated? I would check because I thought there were regulations that governed how non-profits could work and such. 

And another thing, how much did she buy those dogs for? 

Doesn't Petfinder have a way for you to report possible scams or abuse of the website? I know I've reported scams to other sites and got REALLy close to reporting the scam to the feds under "internet fraud". Anyway, the scams I've report, because of the amount of information I provided to the folks that run the website, they pulled the ads/posts and added the poster to their scam list. I would think Petfinder tracks this in some way?? I have no clue.

I didn't look at the ads in Petfinder, so now I'm going to go and look at them because now I'm curious. HAHA

Karyn


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## lucida.ann (Feb 18, 2006)

> If she is non-profit and you can deduct it on your taxes, wouldn't she have to provide you with her tax id number for your tax purposes? And if so, couldn't you use that to report her? Also, isn't there a guide line used for rescue purposes in terms of how much a person can charge for adoption fees? Or is that not regulated? I would check because I thought there were regulations that governed how non-profits could work and such.
> 
> And another thing, how much did she buy those dogs for?
> 
> ...


Hi Karyn,

Yes, Petfinder indeed has a mechanism by which to report scams, etcetera, and I believe somebody here already did that. What Katcher/Callie's mom was alluding to is the fact that if this woman is registered as a non-profit rescue organization, she isn't violating any of their rules and they cannot exclude her listings on that basis alone. Also, they have no "teeth" and have no way to investigate the allegations other than making sure the organization is a bona-fide 501-C3 org. 

In short, as long as she is registered as a non-profit rescue, and is not scamming people from the site in terms of taking their money and not delivering on the dog, Petfinder can't do much about it.

However, this woman needs to be reported to the IRS and any other regulatory bodies that DO have the authority to investigate the organization's tax returns and possibly conduct an audit of their records, as well as the power to enact some form of sanction against the woman/organization, up to and including hefty fines and even imprisonment if the offenses are severe enough.


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## Deanna (Jan 14, 2005)

If one receives something in exchange for a "donation" then it is not a true donation, and can not be used as a tax deduction. There are exceptions for promotional items such as hats, key chains, t-shirts, etc. But receiving a dog for a donation is not tax deductible. If she is issuing receipts for a $600 donation, legally the registered non-profit tax id number has to be printed ON the receipt. Now, since no one here would ever buy a dog from her, there is no way to really prove that she is issuing tax receipts for this "donation". If you think she is really doing that you could turn her into the IRS. 

She has marketed herself as a "rescue", when, as you said- she is nothing but a broker.


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