Putting Douchebags on Blast...

Yes...this is a rant...

Okay so I was out on the town tonight when I got this random email. Someone had a Yorkie available for adoption - a teacup - but a Yorkie none the less. Now, if you know me, you already know that I have a Yorkie - but my furbaby is breed standard and pedigreed. He's a 6.3lb bundle of energy who loves to jump and play and who hasn't had more than a minor bruise or bump here and there from stepping on something suspect when going on walks - but more on that later.

Anywho, the reason this email goes into the "Put douchebags on blast" file (as I was told to do earlier this week lol) is because this email which I've posted below reads more like those obnoxious "Kind Madame please accept my wire transfer from the Ivory Coast for $15 Million USD and keep 10%" scams. What's really insulting is that this fictitious person is banking on the high demand for Yorkies to keep this scam going. But...let's see the email shall we? And yes, I included the email address so that if anyone else is contacted by this fraud, they can be forewarned:

From email address: Jacqueline Jones

To email address: undisclosed-recipients:;

Subject: Little Yorkie for Adoption... Respond

Message:

Hello,

How are you today? I hope this e-mail reaches you in a good mood. My name is
Jacqueline Jones and I am a consultant gynecologist surgeon and oncologist
doctor, I work for different prominent hospital and me and my husband are giving
out this little puppy for free (Adoption), This little girl weighs 1.3Lbs at 9
weeks old & should be 3Lbs when full grown only. She is very friendly with
children she fit in both Palm of your hands. She is AKC/CERF registered puppy
.Adorable and sociable with great Personalities and very good bloodlines.

She is vet-checked, up to date on shots and deforming, and her health is
guaranteed. She was recently checked by a licensed Vet Doctor for heart, knees,
skin, correct bite, and eyes problems and there no sign of any problem. Bottom
and straight sides are tender, she is A.K.C and CERF registered and shots are
given up to date.

She will come along with Travel crate, AKC/CERF Registered Papers, Toys and Food
with her  Birth Certificate, I used to reside in California with my husband but 
after my son's death, I and my husband moved to Africa due to our work and we 
have the puppy right here with us. The Yorkie is for free. You have to promise
me that you will take good care of her as she will be a New family member,
please if you are not going to take good care of the puppy, do not reply but if
you are going to take good care of her kindly reply for more details about her.
I await your urgent Response.

Thanks And God Bless

Jacqueline Jones.

Ok...the reason I posted this is - clearly this piece of crap email is a scam. Why? Well let's go through the red bold portions:

1. Undisclosed recipients: I don't know a Jacqueline Jones, so the fact that JJones@pets.com is sending a mass email is really suspect. I purchased my Yorkie from a reputable breeder I found on the AKC website. They would never just "give" a puppy to someone without properly screening them.

2. Different Prominent Hospital: Don't you know where you work?! Even if it's in the most remote location in Africa, all hospitals have names, even if it's just the name of a town. Plus the grammar is off in this email and the only reason it's so noticeable is because this writer tries too hard to come across with a formal tone - which only calls out the grammatical errors that much more.

3. AKC/Cerf Registered Puppy: By default Teacups are not breed standard and therefore frowned upon by most Yorkshire Terrier clubs (breed standard groups not meetup groups!). Teacups - as lovable as they may seem - are considered genetic anomalies, and aren't something that people should be trying to replicate as they tend to have more health issues than your "breed standard Yorkie". And PS...my breed standard Yorkie is 6lbs...if that's too big of a dog for you then you really don't need a Yorkie at all.

4. Shots & Deforming: it's "deworming" you douche...at least get the language down correctly

5. Guaranteed health: Let's be realistic, even if a puppy at the first vet visit appears 100% healthy, there's never a guarantee that as the pup ages that their health will always be 100% tip-top. A responsible breeder would use language saying that they've had the dog checked out by a vet and to the best of their knowledge, the puppy is healthy and more importantly that the puppy was bred from healthy parents with good blood lines. It might be semantics, but putting a guarantee on something that is so clearly impossible to guarantee is a red flag IMO.

6. The writer was in Cali and of course now lives in Africa with their husband: If nothing else in this email screams scam - this line should! How are we supposed to get said pup from Jacqueline? I would imagine it must be pretty expensive to ship a live animal from Africa to the US (or wherever). In fact, let's forget the fact that most commercial airlines won't let an animal on a flight that lasts longer than 12hrs (and it's definitely more than 12 hrs for a direct flight from NY to wherever in Africa).

This is where they'll hook some hapless person into paying for fictitious shipping fees only to find that "surprise!" there's no puppy and you're out the "shipping costs". In fact, I bet if you email Jacqueline, "she'll" very politely reply telling you that the puppy is on it's way as soon as you send them (via wire transfer/western union since there's no way to get money back once you send money that way) enough money to cover the cost of shipping.

Long story short - there's a sucker born every minute, but don't get caught by something this obvious. And don't hesitate to put these douchebags on blast. They're banking on society's high demand for Yorkies (Yorkies were the 3rd most popular dog breed in the US in 2009) as a way to exploit trusting people.