How I got scammed and lost $1050?

I never in my wildest dream ever thought I would get scammed. Unfortunately, it happened, and I am in shock, and I also want to beat myself up for not recognizing all the red flags. But I hope that this post will make others aware and prevent the scammers from scamming other people.

So, I am a cat-lover. I love cats, and I have always wanted them as pets my whole life. I am at a point where I feel like I am ready to get a cat. I started researching, and I fell in love with the Maine Coon cat. It is so majestic and beautiful. I made up my mind that I would get one, and both my children were excited.

I couldn’t find any Maine Coon breeders close by, so I started googling, which wasn’t a great idea. I came across this website Maine Coon Breeders home. The kittens looked so adorable, and I requested for Majah and Duke. I am sure they keep the same pictures and scam the world. I got an immediate response via email, and it seemed professional. They shared more photos and actual videos of the cats that I had chosen, so it looked very real to me. 

The scammer told me that the price of each kitten was $500 and comes with free shipping. The discount was due to them expecting new litters. I knew it was too good to be true, but I believed it because they showed me the videos of the kittens. I had no idea that they were prerecorded from other places. The prices itself should’ve been the biggest red flag, but I clearly ignored it. I fell in love with the kittens. {I will add the videos towards the end of the post.} 

They also told me that if I wanted the kitten delivered to my doorstep, it would be an extra charge of $50. Another red flag that I ignored because my dumbass was obsessed with these kittens. I was already dreaming of playing with them at this point. Anyways, after I did confirm that I wanted to go ahead with the transaction, I was sent a whole contract paper which seemed super legit. 

And then they asked me for payment over Zelle. Now I should’ve known that Zelle does not have the protection service, but I thought Zelle was like Venmo/Paypal, where I could actually dispute my transaction if anything ever went wrong. I wish I had looked into it before making the payment. They also rushed me into making the payment ASAP because after I picked Duke the scammers told me that they had already sold Duke to someone else because they made the payment before me. Another red flag. So then I picked another beautiful kitten similar to Duke, named Hugo.

Now I didn’t want to lose Majah and Hugo (I wish they were real), so I quickly made the payment. Once the payment was made, I waited for their confirmation, and then they sent me a tracking label like two hours later. At this point, I am thinking like I’ll have my kittens by the evening, and I was super excited. 

I track the shipment and realize that the tracking site is fake (pet mover). They have spelling mistakes, and their way of accepting payments sounded weird once they mentioned bitcoins. I started panicking at this point. I called my bank right away. They basically said there was nothing they could do because Zelle is a third party and the best bet is to contact the seller and see if they give the money back. I wish there was an honest scammer. I did email them though to return my money back, but I sure as he** knew that they weren’t going to give it back. 

So yeah, that’s the story on how I lost my $1050. I could’ve used that money to pay for my classes. It really sucks that this happened, but in a way, I am glad it happened because I will never forget this moment ever. I hope that whoever is reading this post shares my story so someone else can be saved from all these despicable scammers. 

I hope you all can enjoy the videos of these cute little Maine Coons.

Here are videos that were sent of Majah and Hugo.