SCAMS !!! BEWARE !!!

SCAMS ON THE INTERNET SITES!     BEWARE !

There are more and more SCAMS appearing on Wightbay and other Internet sites.They are generally for Pedigree kittens that do not even exist – they just want you to part with some money, usually starting at £150 per kitten !! You will be told that the kittens are ‘FREE or for ‘ADOPTION,’ the money you are being asked to pay is for the transportation to get the kitten to you – and they will actually be putting the kitten/s in a crate and they will be delivered to your door the next day !! Once of course you have parted with your money – which would be by card!  They have always ‘just had to go to another part of the country,’ usually due to the ill health of a relative or in fact themselves – my most recent one was in London – if I wanted both kittens I had to pay them £300 – the whole thing was complete fabrication.  If you offer to go and collect the kitten they would ‘just be moving to another part of the country’ and you would NEVER catch up with them, no matter how hard you tried.  One, a couple of years ago, who was advertising 4 or 5 different breeds moved 3 times to different areas ranging from the Island to London to Scotland – I gave up at this stage as I thought at this rate they would at some stage say they were moving to Australia !!!!

I REALLY hope that people will not be taken in by these scams, but I see no point in them continuing if in fact they are not making money from it.  Wightbay are VERY good, and if you contact them suspecting a scam they will investigate it and will remove the advert and block the user.  This does not stop them though as they just change their user name, but Wightbay will always act if they are contacted by anyone showing concern.

If you are planning to get a cat/kitten of any description the alarm bells should start ringing if you are not invited to their premises.  You should be able to see the mother, and if kept by the breeder, the stud cat as well.  You need to visit the premises to see how and where they have been reared and whether they are being kept in the house or in outside pens.  If the breeder insists on bringing the cat/kittens to you, so you can make your choice, be VERY careful.  This practice unfortunately IS being carried out on the Island and in some cases the reason they do not want you visiting their premises is because the animals are being kept in appalling conditions.

It is hard to believe that people would behave in this way, but sadly I have seen it with my own eyes.