Lovin Dubai got a DM from a Dubai resident who got scammed by someone who was claiming to be adopting out a Pomeranian pup called Jack, through Dubizzle. The buyer/resident would like to remain anonymous.

The buyer saw an ad for a puppy who needs a home and so they contacted the seller via WhatsApp.

The buyer and dog seller had a text conversation and when they sent over the money for his adoption, the seller stopped responding… So what happened?

The ad had stated “Jack Urgently looking for his new home” and the description said his adoption would be for FREE

In the description, under the ad, it says “Hello we are the owner of Jack.. we decide to give it out for free adoption cause we can’t afford to see him been sold. he is very healthy with no health issue 100 percent on that with proven document. We just decoded to give it out fo…”

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Although the description says the seller doesn’t want to charge the person adopting Jack, they still asked the buyer to pay for the document processing fees to change the name of the owner.

The seller then forwarded his local bank transfer details. And of course once the transfer was successful, POOF, he blocked the buyer.

The buyer then decided to message the seller again but using a different phone number in an effort to catch him

When they did, the seller portrayed an entirely different persona; specifically of a Lebanese professional photographer named Mohammed Ahmed Al Yassine. Which of course was enough for the resident to determine it was a SCAM because the name registered on the Dubizzle account and the bank does not match. On the ad he claimed to be Mohammed, and for the bank, his name was Felix Etta Ojong.

During the second conversation, he kept up the same shpiel of Jack being 12 weeks and 6 days old, potty trained, takes commands and is vaccinated and microchipped. In an effort to catch him, the resident asked him for Jack’s documents. The seller probably noticed at that point that the new buyer he was hoping to scam, is the same person he scammed before.

The buyer did not get the pup, is over AED1,000 short, and has since reported it Dubizzle.

Please stay vigilant and cautious as scams these days have become very elaborate. If someone is asking you for money ahead of the service or goods that are being sold, pause and consider if it’s a scam.