Junk Mail is glad that Carte Blanche has highlighted this issue in their Consumer Watch program. Junk Mail believes that knowledge is the key in the fight against scammers. Our motto is “Be Smart! Be Savvy! Be Safe!”. This post contains useful information about the Parrot Scam. You can use the following post as a guideline to check if you are dealing with a parrot scam.
The advert you are responding to might be a scam if:
- The deal sounds too good to be true (eg “Hyacinth macaw with 16 eggs R10000” or “Macaw for adoption”).
- The advertiser wants you to pay for parrots you have not seen.
- The cell number on the advert does not work or if you call the number you reach someone who did not advertise parrots (Scammers do this to lure advertisers into responding via e-mail).
- The e-mail reply that you receive from the advertiser is from a web-based e-mail address that can be created in 5 five minutes online (eg @yahoo.com / @yahoo.co.uk / @googlemail.com / @gmail.com / @hotmail.com / @hotmail.co.uk / @live.com / @live.co.za / @msn.com).
- An online search for the person’s e-mail address and reports of scams on websites like Fraudwatchers appear in the search results.
- The response you receive from the advertiser contains broken English and it sounds like a person who knows nothing about parrots when you ask them specific details.
- You receive photos of the parrots from the advertiser and they are available on other websites on the internet.
- The advertiser claims to be in a foreign African country and that they are not able to care for the parrot (in some cases they claim to be missionaries).
- The advertiser is not using a valid Pet Transport Agency. (You can check this with IPATA – An International Trade Association of animal handlers, pet moving providers, kennel operators, veterinarians).
If you have been a victim of a scam please contact us at ccc@junkmail.co.za or if you have found a fraudulent advert on our website please make use of the “Report Advert” option which is provided for each advert on the website to report the advert to us ASAP. You can read a transcript of the full Carte Blanche report at this link.
This advert is a variation of the scam which claims that a Hyacinth Macaw parrots is available for adoption. A pair of Hyacinth Macaws sells for R300,000 to R400,000 (according to the Carte Blanche piece)
Junk Mail works closely with the SAPS in this regard. We follow up on all scams that are reported to us.
We’ve covered the ‘Pet Scams’ topic previously on the Junk Mail blog. You can read our post about this topic at this link.
DAG
EK HET GEREAGEER OP DIE MACAW’S WAT iN DIE JUNKMAIL GEADVERTEER WORD LAASWEEK EN JA R1800-00 verder en geen voels nie
Goeiedag Lenie – Stuur asb die details van die adverteerder na ons Kliëntediens afdeling toe via ccc@junkmail.co.za sodat ons ondersoek kan instel.
this lady gertjie also under other names she uses tries to scam a person with her two macaws named beryl and pat.but she never caught me.be careful people she is like a devil trying to win you over.please keep your eyes open.she changes her name she might even change the parrots names.please dont fall for her tricks
Thanks for sharing