Chances are very high that those "reptile for adoption" or "bearded dragon for adoption" Facebook pages that you see spammed on the REPTILES Facebook page and other pet pages are scams.
Chances are very high that those “reptile for adoption” or “bearded dragon for adoption” Facebook pages that you see spammed on the REPTILES Facebook page and other pet pages are scams designed to depart you with your money. A woman in Martinez, GA sadly found out when she answered an advertisement on a “Tortoise for Adoption” Facebook group.
A 44-year-old Georgia woman was duped out of close to $1,000 after she answered an ad on a “Tortoise for Adoption” Facebook group, according to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia. The group, supposedly run out of Greenville South Carolina, requested the woman pay a $100 deposit for the Russian tortoise using a Walmart gift card, according to the Augusta Chronicle. The report noted that repeated attempts to pay the scammers via PayPal were unsuccessful. The gift card information was given to the scammers using the FaceTime phone app.
Police were informed by the woman that the total cost of the Russian tortoise was supposed to be $150 including shipping. The scammers then told the woman that she had to pay $807 to the shipping company for other services that supposedly included a veterinary shot, permit, crate rental and insurance, the Augusta Chronicle’s report noted.
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She paid the money in five ApplePay payments and received a tracking number, but the tortoise was never shipped, the woman told police. Logistics Global, the shipping company the woman was apparently dealing with, apparently asked for an additional $200 for a storage fee for supposedly storing the tortoise. The woman refused and called the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office to investigate.
We try and remove these types of pages from the REPTILES Facebook page daily, but sometimes they get past and can sit on the page for 24 to 48 hours. If you see these types of pages on the REPTILES Facebook page, or any other pet page, our advice is to don’t engage with anyone from these pages. They may be scammers.
