Parrot Scams: 8 Things To Watch Out For To Keep Your Money Safe
If you’ve been scammed please read this post “Calling All People That Have Been Scammed”
Running a parrot site with a parrots for sale section we’ve seen a fair few scammers post ads up, we’ve had to be clever and change the way the whole section works to try and prevent these scammers ads from even appearing on the site because we feel partly responsible when people contact us and tell us how they part with their hard earned money for nothing.
It’s a never ending battle that while we do everything we can to stop them it’s impossible to completely irradicate so I thought I’d put together a blog post to firstly warn people that “it happens” and it “could be you” and some safeguard points to watch out for to help keep your money safe.
So without further do here is the top ten things you have to watch out for when considering purchasing an African grey parrot online:
1. Price – This is probably the single most obvious things that I think helps weed out the scams from the genuine adverts. when I say price I mean low price, when the price seems to be amazingly low and too good to be true, there you have it “too good to be true” … like with most things in life, you get what you pay for.
Generally if you see an African grey parrot advertised for sale for much less then £400 without a genuine explanation, alarm bells should start ringing. Scammers count on the fact that most people see the price of a parrot and think they can’t afford to pay so much money so they offer you a bargain that you can’t afford to miss, WRONG!!
So when looking through parrot adverts you are going to be looking at £450-900 to buy an african grey so anything lower than this put a black mark down.
2. Advert Language – Usually you will find that scammers are not English people therefore the written language is not lets say “perfect English”. Now you don’t need to be a perfect A grade student in English language, but if the English doesn’t sound … English then there’s a fair bet that the person writing the advert isn’t English.
Now that’s not to say that all foreigners are scammers and it’s perfectly feasible that a non English first language person is not a legitimate seller, it’s one thing to watch out for. Here’s an example of poor English in one advert submitted to us:
“looking very good and well arrange that can comfort your lovely parrot in as long as you will like it to be there.”
3. Adoption Ads – Come on, do you think people are going to give away birds that cost £450-900 for free or next to nothing for the goodness of their heart, generally it doesn’t happen, I’m sure it does occassionally but not very often, adoption in the title or description of the ad is usually a sure fire give away, sterr clear of these ads.
4. Deposit Required – All scams require you to send a deposit or money at some stage, once they have a deposit they ask for more money for insurance or a travel cage or something like that, then I can guarantee you that once they have all your money you won’t see that bird or any sign of your money ever again.
A lot of scams involve Cameroon, Nigeria or some other African country, but we’ve found more and more often particularly on this site that the birds/sellers are in Ireland.
5. Welfare Enthusiasm – Scammers are often well over the top with the birds well being rather than money, this is to lull you into a false sense of security to make you think it’s not about the money it’s all about the bird.
If you think about it, it’s reverse phsycology they make you feel like you have to prove to them that you will be a worthwhile owner and you do everything you can to convince them that you will be and by the time you have finished convincing you are right where they want you which is desperate to own the parrot they are going to sell you “if you’re good enough”.
So lets get it straight from the start, you ARE good enough, you don’t need to prove to anyone otherwise!!
6. Phone Number – You should ALWAYS speak to the seller on the phone before you even consider parting with your hard earned cash, in this day and age we’ve become to used to paying for things online without seeing or speaking to the person/company we’re buying goods online from, it’s just too easy!!!
So when you request a number and they will not give one walk away … simple as that, would you buy a £1,000 from “Ricks Really Good Deals Ltd” probably not so why hand over your cash to someone else you’ve never heard of before?
Most breeders or sellers would prefer to speak by phone to arrange a sale.
7. Western Union – They will not accept anything other than western union. Some cheeky scammers even send you a list of your local shops where this can be paid, big question marks there!
8. Pictures – Pictures can tell you a thousand words, it’s true!! Scammers tend to use the same old pictures everytime, scour around the internet even the other ads on the site, if you see the same picture over and over used on completely different ads then you have a scammers advert in front of you.
Another thing is the pictures scammers use tend to be proffessional ones knicked from parrot sites rather than home taken ones, you should be able to tell the difference quite easily, if you have any doubts mark it down as another black mark and check all the other points.
Hopefully these eight points will help you to spot the scammers when looking to purchase an African grey or any other parrot online, the most important thing to do is don’t EVER hand over any money to anyone till you have spoken to and met the bird you wish to purchase, that way you can be 100% sure you are not just another scammer statistic.
Update: 11th January 2010
Thanks to the kind comment made by Greg Glendell of Greg’s Parrots pointing out one of Google’s advertisers being a scam, we have since blocked the said ad from appearing on our site, but for those of you that haven’t seen it I took a screen capture of the ad before blocking it, so if you see this advert click on it as much as you like because it will cost them money but do not under any circumstances give up your hard earned cash to this site as you will likely never see it again!!
Parrotsecrets.com Scam
30 Responses to “Parrot Scams: 8 Things To Watch Out For To Keep Your Money Safe”
Thanks for advice.
I am keen on breeding/trading with African greys, firstly cause I love them & 2nd cause I believe U can make money selling birds.
I am keen on export market to East.
Can u advise me.
I live in South Africa & have sufficient funds to start.
Thanks.
A
Unfortunately parrots cannot be exported into the UK as there is a ban in place stopping this, so that highlights another trick scammers use actually, if anyone offers you a parrot from overseas don’t touch it with a barge pole!!
Got caught out with this crowd:
http://www.manhattanaviaryonline.com/
thanks for the advice,will be lookin for a grey in a couple of weeks and am concerned about the number of scams on the internet sites iv looked on.
Glad it helped… We will have some baby grey soon in for hand rearing, email me at paula@african-grey-parrots.co.uk if you would like some more info.
hi, someone online has offered me an african grey for free, as they are emmagrating to us this weekend, so i can have parrot for free with cage, they dont want no money, but as they live over 300 miles from me they have requested it be delivered, the delivery charge is £120 but as i dont have this, they said the will pay £40 if i pay £80, i give money to delivery person when they come with parrot,
does anyone think this id genuine?????
please help!
is there anyway when i see the parrot if it comes that i can tell if it is a fake?
Hi,
This is a Scam, it’s how they work they will say it’s frr and then ask for delivery money so you think you are getting a right bargain, but you will see nothing, please don’t send any money to this person, and please email me at paula@african-grey-parrots.co.uk if you need any help or send me the email address of this person so we can try help to stop them.
Thanks
Paula
hi my daughter has just been scammed for £200 for a parrot
Hi,
So sorry to hear that, please tell us how she was scammed and who by so we can help others avoid the same fate … have you informed the police?
Best, Rick
Hi. I know it was a long time ago(2004)and a blue fronted amazon. But i responded to an ad for a cheap parrot. As i had just lost mine to my ex,i was in need of a replacment. They asked where i was,and had a good knowledge of the area,and said they were bringing one to a disabled man a few streets away and they could bring one for me too. A woman with a middleborough accent brought it around,but i had problems with my cash card just before the visit. i explained this when she got to me,and said they could take a deposit. I was given a receipt for an address that does not exsist,and 2 mobile numbers that were always on answer. I went to find the house but couldnt find it. I looked through the phone book in a desperate attempt to find the number. I found it was a printers shop at the back of us,they had no knowledge of it,but said someone used to breed parrots in their yard. They had no forwarding address for them. I contacted the police,but nothing was ever found out. Has anyone else come across her,and have they got an address for me to visit her,identify her,and report her address. This happened in the coventry area. Thanks. Cliff.
we have jus bn scammed 350 pounds and they are still emailin us wantin us to send another 280pounds for insurance so they can send the bird to us (yeah rite) can anyone please help.. it started with an advert on the net from a woman called vera quinta from uk? we have her “address” and the money was to be sent to cameroon.. can anyone let me no if there is anything we can do??
thanks
hi thanks i almost bought a pair last night but when told to pay by money gram i thought hold on!why money gram payment in uk that doesnt sound right so before i made that payment i checked forums out and thanks to all out there this does sound like a scam once again thank guys !!!!
So glad it helped you out, these people need hunting down and stopping!! Make me so angry :O(
Paula
regarding scammers using images found elsewhere on the web.
if you paste the suspect image url (right click – properties on the image) into the link below, it will search the web and see if it has been used elsewhere. not foolproof but it can often help
http://www.tineye.com/
Excellent help … thanks Rich
Thanks for that … it all helps catch these waste of spaces..
)
I have just been caught up in this scam also. I just lost $425.00. I am just devastated! I was buying two african grey, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. I am still getting e-mails saying my bills are piling up from Cam Air flights. This is just a horrible thing to happen right before christmas. I have totally learned my lesson. I will be turning this in to the Federal Trade Center and hopefully it may slow the scam down.
Sorry to hear about this Lewanda and at this time of year is even more shocking, it goes to show there’s people in this world that think of only themselves and not the poor people thery steal from, make sure you post up the details of the scammer and how you were scammed to name and shame them!!
camaroon parrot scam 290 euros i sent tru westren union for a macaw egg, i seen advertised ,in free adds galway , sam thing ,lowlife tugs in camaroon , only worry about them selves , i also want 2 say iv learned the hard way,,,, scammmers first and last time lol yo
ive just been scammed by name of julius akum i wanted to buy a african grey parrot iv payed my money by money gram and went st8 to cameroon then they wanted me to pay insurance of further 300 for that they are advertisin on net african grey parrot for 260 the advertisment is named under gumtree all over uk im just trying to make everyone aware
Hi Paula,
Really sorry to hear about what has happened to you, it’s so sad that they can get away with this… thanks for commenting on the blog post it will help others from getting caught by the same scam. Have you contacted Gumtree and told them about the scammer i would do and ask them if they have anymore details on them, and to delete the ad and them as a user as they are scammers.
Really sorry again but thanks again for helping to help others.
Paula
i selle many parrot
just contact me and come to see my breed
[email removed]
admin note: this is EXACTLY the type of thing to watch out for, the English is terrible!!!
Hi,
This *very website*, african-grey-parrots.co.uk carries a sponsored advert for a parrot care scam; viewed Jan 10 2010.
Near the top of this page you will see a hyperlink saying : “Train your african grey in 15 days”. This takes youtosomething called Natalie Roberts. There is no such person! Natalie Roberts is actually Sumantra Roy, who livers in India and has never cared for any parrot in his life. Please delete this advert and/or tell Google to stop this ad now. The metjhods advocated are both cruel and counter productive.
Hi Greg,
Firstly I’d like to thank you for pointing out the ad in question, obviously we wouldn’t purposely advocate sites that are trying to scam people, in fact we try our hardest to keep people safe from being scammed, we cannot be held responsible for ads provided by a third party (Google) but we can block them from appearing on our site as they arise which is exactly what we have done in this case.
We’ve also updated the blog post with the details of the ad that was scamming, if you see any others please do let us know and we will name and shame them.
Best, Rick
Hi,
Great guide by the way.
There really are too many cowboys out there. He was claiming to be selling a pair of African Grey parrots. I was lured into a scam where in this case, the scammer was dodging questions here there and everywhere, saying – ‘just pay me £250 for the shipping, and I’ll also need your address and contact details’. Needless to say I was very suspicious. The ’seller’ had supplied pictures of the very nice looking parrots by e-mail too, which looked convincing enough at the start.
He also claimed that he had got a new job on the Isle of Man, which was why he was selling them.
This particular bloke went by the name of ‘Paul Donna’ (which later magically changed to ‘Danna’ according to my e-mail inbox).
Despite me offering to come and pick up the parrots from the Isle of Man, he refused saying ‘it’s too much of a hassle for you’.
Also, his grammar was poor which made made even more weary, thinking he was very probably a foreigner. For example:
‘it was lovely to read from u again kindly ring me as u said so that we can talk everything better on phone’
After a few e-mails back and forth, it became apparent that this particular seller did not want to disclose any information: e.g. the actual price of the PARROTS, if I could pay the courier WHEN the parrots are delivered to my door e.t.c, despite my persistent asking.
Anyhow, he did me a phone number so we could take over the phone. It was a mobile number: 07031867771.
This a good point to make – numbers that begin with: 0701, 0702 & 0703 ARE UNTRACEABLE NUMBERS! After he gave me this number, I told the scum where to stick his £250, and after that, well, I never got a reply back
I hope by sharing my little story, people wanting to buy a grey who stumble across this guy will read this first, and they too can tell him where to stick his lowlife criminal crap.
Anyhow, I since rang a dealer in cumbria who is english, and indeed knows very much what hes talking about. I’ve bought a baby grey for £560. The call is the most important part to making sure that the seller is genuine – press them, stretch there knowledge and if they seem clueless, it’s worth playing safe and going elsewhere.
Don’t forget – 0701, 0702 & 0703 numbers in the UK – don’t go there! Why would a genuine seller want to be untraceable?
Thanks, I hope this might help a few people who are unsure.
Joe.
Hi Joe,
Thanks for sharing your story with us in so much detail, I think anyone reading that could learn a few things from it.
Also I didn’t know about the 0701, 0702 and 0703 numbers being untraceable that’s a gret point, we shall incorporate that into our approval repertoire for the Parrots For Sale area of the site, we manually approve all ads in order to attempt to cut out the scammers, it’s not 100% fool proof but we manage to cut most of it out.
Cheers, Rick
Rick,
It was really no bother at all pal.
I also forgot to say that 0704 numbers are also untraceable. This link might clear things up abit:
http://www.met.police.uk/fraudalert/news/fraudalert.htm
As I say, I only hope that my little experience as well as that tidbit about the phone numbers will stop a good handful of these low-lifes.
Anyhow,
All the best,
Joe
Calling All People That Have Been Scammed | African Grey Parrot Centre Blog - January 26, 2010
[...] may have seen our blog post that we wrote last year about how to spot a parrot scam and avoid parting with your hard earned cash for [...]
hi i rang this person earlier thought i would post this as an example of a scam …no i wont be sending any money to the isle of man
Date:
From: jamesbenian22@yahoo.co.uk
Subject: Re: African gray parrots for sale intelligent birds
To:
Thanks for the respond. Micky is available and i need a home ready to give her all the love and affection she can ever get. She is a Congo African Grey parrot aged 9 months old, she is hand raised and has been adequately socialized to get along with humans and other pets. She has been vet checked and medical checked and proven to be very healthy.she
has a great ability to talk producing parts of speech such as good morning, good afternoon, her name and other word or short sentences uttered by people around her. She has been DNA sexed and proven as a female.She is out standing and lovely with a great
personality.Have been vaccinated, vet checked, registered up to
dates on shots, worming and jabs.in guiding me look for a lovely home for her and as you know parrots are very delicate creatures and need a lot of care and devotion,i will
like to know the following from you:
Do you have kids?
If so,are they good with pets?
Have you ever raised (Owned) a parrot before?
Do you Own Other Pets?
How is your Working Schedule?
Do you want to Breed?
How Soon Do you Want the parrot?
I will be happy to get these details from you so that it can guard me in making a manual which the parrot can take along which will guard you on basics of taking care of her and also basics on feeding.I am Presently Located in Isle of man where the parrot will be coming from,So get back lets see how she get a home..Also if the parrot needs to be deliver, then get back to me with your full house address,your full names,your phone numbers,post code and your city, so that i should contact the transport agency right away for delivery reservation,And You will just have to Pay the total sum of 190Pounds for her including delivery fee,Here is my contact number:07024016979.Call me for more information on her.THANKS
— On wrote:
From:
Subject: Enquiry regarding your itsmymarket.com listing
To: jamesbenian22@yahoo.co.uk
Date:
Im shocked to read so many stories! I started off looking for a parrot egg to incubate and after some searching realised this was not going happen! Im pretty sure that EVERY advert advertising eggs for sale is a scam!! Why are these adverts still being published??!! What I find more shocking is that this is seemingly happening with all animals, we breed dogs and sports horses and scammers seem to be taking over!! So, please also be aware that the same rules apply, which luckily i was aware of, to all animals!
And… if it is possible to get an egg to incubate then please could someone let me know!
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