How to spot an online pet scam (Aug 2019)

Online scams are more pervasive than ever, and the pet market is no exception. At CitizenShipper, we work tirelessly to filter out scammers and create a secure environment for customers and transporters alike. Still, keep these guiding principles in mind so that you’ll stay safe while buying or transporting pets.

Do not let them rush you into completing the payment

One warning sign that indicates you’re dealing with a scammer is being rushed into closing the deal. They might claim that an offer is available for a limited time only… Or hey, they’re passing through your town tomorrow, so if you could make the payment by then… By urging you to act fast, scammers hope to prevent you from realizing their true motives.

Do not engage with dishonest actors

If a seller says they have a deal in place with CitizenShipper to deliver your new pet, don’t take their word for it. Visit our site and see if they’re listed as one of our affiliates. If they’re not, it’s almost certainly a scam. Similarly, when transporters try to pull you off-site and negotiate a bid privately, odds are they’re trying to take advantage of you. If you leave the CitizenShipper platform, we’ve no way of monitoring your communication or protecting you from the scammer.

Avoid paying through direct money transfers

A typical scammer won’t accept a credit card payment or a PayPal transfer. That’s because these services accept chargeback requests — if it turns out you’ve been scammed, the bank can reverse the transfer and restore your funds.

Instead, scammers will want to be paid through Western Union, MoneyGram, and similar non-refundable money transfers. Do not go along with this, no matter what justification they come up with. 

Learn to recognize fake addresses 

When a seller provides you with a name, phone number, or address, go ahead and google it. Scammers often use the same contact info over and over again, so a quick search might point you to a blacklist. If it turns out you’ve been given one of those addresses, you’ll know it’s a scam. (Their actual location is likely Cameroon or Eastern Europe.)

Scammers might also email you from a public domain (@gmail.com, @usa.com, etc) but using “citizenshipper” as part of the address. That’s an instant red flag — all CitizenShipper correspondence goes through our own domain (@citizenshipper.com, optionally @citizenshipper.tips).

Learn to recognize phony insurance offers

Recently, we've discovered scammers that offer fake insurance deals hiding behind names and domains vaguely similar to CitizenShipper's. Anyone who tries to sell you pet insurance on our behalf is definitely a scammer - we do not provide any kind of insurance policy as a part of our service.

Here are several screenshots to help you get a sense of what to stay away from. The first is a fake insurance certificate from a non-existent organization called IATA (not to be confused with the legitimate IPATA):

The second is a spam message from uscitizenshipper.com (a fake address, not associated with CitizenShipper). Their fake pet insurance costs $325, supposedly 100% refundable (it's not):

The third example brings us scammers who can't seem to decide whether "citizen" is spelled with one Z or two. But they definitely want a "refundable" fee for an "anti-COVID crate" which does not exist. If you pay them in advance, they'll vanish without a trace.

Next, there's the fake transport site citizenshippers.net, in no way associated with the CitizenShipper brand:

Another fake transport site, usacitizenshipper.com, has nothing to do with us and should be avoided:

And finally, here's a scammer emailing people from the citizenshipper@fastservice.com address. As mentioned before, all genuine emails you get from us should have either @citizenshipper.com or @citizenshipper.tips as the domain.

So whenever you suspect you’re being scammed feel free to contact us and report the incident. We’ll review the case and let you know how to proceed.

What to read next

For more info on staying safe while using CitizenShipper, see the Security section of our Help Center, specifically this article on safely communicating with drivers.