Hi everyone-
I just feel I have to write to you about a scam that I've come across that seems to be all over the UK and Irish online classfied websites. I'd imagine I'm not the first person writing about this.
Basically it started when I did a search online to buy an African Grey parrot for my boyfriend's birthday. A few sites came up through the search but the parrots available on this particular site- Adoos (www.adoos.ie) seemed extremely reasonable they were being offered at 200euro, I even came across an add offering the free adoption of a pair of African Greys from Scotland- well as you can imagine I couldn't believe my luck! I email the person in question got a detailed story about how their job required so much time they could no longer take care of the parrots and basically offered the parrots to me-all I would have to pay for would be the cost of delivery to a delivery agency. At first I thought it was very reasonable although I had questions as to why the person was so eager to give me their much loved pets without at least actually speaking to me on the phone. Today I've been sent details of the delivery company in Scotland ( which I've looked up for the Scotland area and it does not exist-it looks like an oversees company) I have all the details of the delivery company from the email they sent me where the money is to be made out to-which is what looks like an African mans name with a London address which I will forward on.
Now the scam gets bigger as at the same time I expressed interest in a Cockatoo Parrot which they claimed was for sale in Ireland but when we spoke to the man he gave his location as West Cameroon. I also expressed interest in a reasonably priced English Bulldog which they claimed through emails was owned by a Mary Leslie an English woman but all the contact details in the emails are African numbers. They are using nearly all the online classified sites-I've come across them on Gumtree UK and Ireland, Eireads.com, olx.com and adoos.com- They are very persistant and clever in the way they arrange money orders- I've seen complaints on the internet from people that are experiencing the same situation and money was asked to be transfered to Cameroon which I've been asked to do and now they are using a London transfer address, they are also using English and Ireland phone numbers so it is looking likely that there are people on the ground in both the UK and Ireland.
It is a major scam and I would imagine and have seen complaints from people that they are being scammed out of money. They even in one email told me their daughter had died and thats why they wanted to sell as they could not bear to look at the animal anymore as it reminded them of her- how sick is that. Hopefully by writing this it will highlight this scam so it won't fool people.