Hi all, can anyone throw any light on this situation:

a woman has just rung me to ask after her paperwork for her puppy bought on Dec 3rd from a LAYBY which she was told was a dog with my affix.  I haven't had pups and my affix is relatively new, so can't be an old dog that's been bred,  and as for selling in a layby!!! who buys these poor dogs in this way? Incidentally it was a town close to mine.

It seems that she's been scammed, but they have used my details which can only have been taken from the Champdogs breeders thingy or a show catalogue.  She also had my landline number which is ex directory and insisted this was the number used when she did the initial transaction which is an impossibility.

She also asked if I had any pups for sale.  The woman seemed genuine, but is this some scam by her to target the house if we did have pups, or have I been watching too many horror stories on TV? does anyone have any thoughts...

No, it sounds extreamly dodgy to me...have you tried to google her tel number to see what comes up?

Hi Lexy,
good thinking! I've just tried - nothing, but the woman didnt' withhold her number and it is another town nearby. I did feel that she was genuine, but I've still removed my address from my Champdogs site and haven't put my address in show catalogues for a while.  I'm a bit rattled, but fortunately the dogs are rarely left alone and never outside.

Not got personal experience but I am a dog groomer and have lost count of how many dogs I get coming to me whose owners 'bought them from a layby'. Always the same layby somewhere near Newtown This is between Aberystwyth direction and Telford so guessing they came from Puppy Farms. Designer Cross Breeds. Makes me so cross, especially as many have skin probs etc ;-(

Sounds weird - why would she want to know if you have puppies, if she has allegedly just bought a puppy??

> Sounds weird - why would she want to know if you have puppies, if she has allegedly just bought a puppy??

Perhaps she's from the council or tax office!

Perhaps she's from the council or tax office! eek

lol, nothing to declare guvnor!

Thinking about it from all angles and now I'm calm, I think the woman had answered an internet ad. prob for very cheap pups, where he'd relayed my champdogs site with all MY details as evidence that he was a bona fide breeder and then conned her into meeting him at a layby to sell her the pup. 

He had promised on the phone that he would just meet her and then they'd drive onto his house to see the pups with the mum.  What happened was that he turned up in the layby with 2 pups, she fell in love with one and bought him and the conman then told her he'd forward the KC paperwork on using my site details as a 'guarantee'.  Meeting the mum was overlooked.  It sounds like a very accomplished con.

I've written a disclaimer into my champdogs mainpage,  presumably others will be waiting for their 'paperwork',  but it guts me that I have to tarnish my page because lowlifes like this exist. 

The lady sounded very nice, so I suspect the pup got a happy ending.  Re. asking after another pup, I think she was just trying to hide her embarassment at having been had... or am I being too naive?

> Re. asking after another pup, I think she was just trying to hide her embarassment at having been had... or am I being too naive?

It's not what I'd expect someone who had just been conned to ask....
And it still doesn't explain why she swore blind she'd been calling YOUR (ex-D) number to arrange everything....

Edited to add: Could this be a scammer scoping things out hoping to use your details in future?

Sounds quite worrying. Seems very odd that she's asking about puppies when she just got one though.

People who aren't 'doggy' don't bother about 'details' like us.  I have a friend who threw away his KC papers just cos he wouldn't ever need them.  People have sworn blind they've bought a pup from me when they haven't and when I remind them where they got the pup, it all falls into place.  I suppose buying a pup doesn't have that magic about it that it does for us.  I feel sorry for them.
Did she maybe not call you before about a pup and you didn't have anything? So she went on to buy elsewhere but somehow got mixed up with the contact details? (But I am quite Naive) I get quite a lot of calls/emails from my champdogs page but rarely have any puppies but I keep it there because I like to educate about the GOOD breeders.

On another note, I love getting someone who can't decide between my 2 (completely different) breeds!! Oh boy, do they leave with a sore ear!! Just because the names both end in Spaniel, doesn't mean the breeds are alike!!!
I always ask "Do you want an obedient, energetic, smart dog or do you want a cocker?"lol.  My OH hates that!!

I think the bit about her swearing that she had used your exD number to arrange things points to her being dodgy. Good con people are often highly plausible, with excellent social skills. That is how they manage to pull the wool.

You would know if you'd used a certain number to sort out details and you know it is not possible, so she must be lying.

Oh dear, whatever angle this is coming from it is horrible, whether the woman is the scammer or the scammed your still being dragged into it.

It's why I'm so paranoid about having anything to do with my address/phone number on line,  it does leave you open to abuse and the nasty people in this world, all they need is your postcode and they can basically look inside your windows. (Must admit I do it myself when checking people out too)

Just seems strange to me that anyone would buy from a layby and why they would wait until Feb to chase up paperwork promised at the very beginning of Dec, we know from here that people get itchy feet just after a couple of weeks wait, so it's a bit of a long gap isn't it? The checking for puppies you may have too is a bit strange.

All I can say is thank goodness you do not have any, just be careful. x

After watching that brilliant show Hustle I think anything is possible.