A while back we were contacted multiple times about a man named “Frank” who was using our business name to steal money from people.

The number he was using at the time was 615-801-8349.

Below we have written some red flags to look for in an effort to avoid giving these scammers any of your hard-earned money or time.

YOU ARE LIKELY BEING SCAMMED IF:

1) The person you are contacting will give a million and one excuses as to why they cannot answer the phone and speak to you. We don’t care what the reason is, NEVER send money or buy a puppy from a breeder who is not willing to speak to you over the phone. This is a HUGE red flag.

2) The person is texting or communicating in poor English. We mean this with no disrespect to those who speak English as a second language. It is simply a matter of what we continually see with scammers, as they are often located overseas.

3) The price for whatever breed you are looking for is significantly lower than other listings. Especially with French Bulldogs, you will not find a good, reputable breeder, selling brand new Frenchie puppies for anything lower than $2,200. And a $2,200 price range usually means the puppies are coming from less than stellar breeders and often without registration papers (of course there are exceptions, but this is the general rule).

4) The “seller” wants you to send them money for the puppy to a brick and mortar location but it is nowhere near where they claim to be selling the puppy. For example, they have a Nashville area code and claim to be selling from Nashville, but want you to send money to a Walmart in San Antonio, TX (this is what “Frank” is doing—he said it is what the “company” wanted him to do).

5) They cannot send you numerous pictures of the puppy (usually because they are just taking them from the internet). If something feels off, request more and specific photos of the puppy. We have even had someone request a picture of a puppy that had something with the current date on it as well. You can also reverse image search the photo they are using to sell the puppy. This reverse image search will show you other websites that have that photo posted. This will allow you to see if this “seller” has stolen the photo of the puppy from an actual reputable breeder’s site. If you don’t know how to do this, simply google “how to search by image” and you can read step by step directions.

6) The “seller” gets angry, frustrated, or tells you things like “I have many people interested. I will just sell to them” when you ask questions. They try to rush your decision and by making you feel like you are going to miss out. You are making a huge investment in a new family member. There is never a reason a breeder should get angry or frustrated because you are asking basic questions. A good breeder understands a new family likely just googled “questions to ask breeders” and will be prepared to answer these basic questions.

7) Try to find a website for the business they claim to be, if they are using a business name. In our opinion, good breeders have websites. Good breeders want to build a reputation that others can find online. Once you find this website, make sure the contact information matches who you have been speaking with. Those who have been nearly scammed by “Frank” would be able to tell his phone number is NOT the phone number for our business as listed on our contact page.

8) The “seller” refuses to let you visit the puppy prior to making a payment. Even if our puppies are not old enough for visits, we still always allow families to visit and see parents and where our puppies are raised. A lot of breeders will claim they do not allow visits due to safety reasons. To a degree, we understand this worry. However, if other red flags present themselves along with this one, you can be certain you are likely dealing with a scammer or a breeder you probably would not want to purchase from.