Scam Ads on craigslist?!!

[ShoniNikki]

hey guys and gals I was browsing craigslist and came across a couple ads for hyacinths... One was for a female about 18 months old... The lady is proclaiming that the bird is very highly trained and the reason they are rehoming her (not selling) is because she is now pregnant and they are stuck in ohio until after the baby is born because they do not wish to travel and complicate her pregnancy?!!
and then the second ad was for a pair of hyacinths and Im positive this one was a scam because it also is jst a rehoming ad (not selling) it is easier to tell the second ad was a scam but the first kind of makes me think it is but then again you can never be positive...
I have the reply emails from both ads and am going to post them...

 

[ShoniNikki]

this is the response from the second ad and it came with 3 pictures I will try to attach...

Hi ,

I am Mrs. Sally , I want to thank you for inquiring about our Hyacinth Macaws . Yes they are available and we are looking to give them out to any great and Hyacinth Macaws loving family . These two angels are called Koukou ( female ) and Kaka ( male ) . They are very socialized . well tamed , hand fed and will be a great pet for any Hyacinth Macaws loving family . They are good talkers and not screamers .They are 6 years and 9 month old , DNA tested and proven male and female . They have great temperaments and they have been together since they were chicks

Personal details :

I am 33 years old and married . My husband and I we have just open up a new restaurant ( Non vegetarian and vegetarian ) , work at the restaurant is very stressful giving us less time to cater properly for Koukou and Kaka . we do love them and do not have any choice at the moment but to give them out to any Hyacinth Macaws loving family . I am most concern about their health and welfare . They are micro chipped and they will be coming with all their health papers , a year health guarantee and their accessories. cage and other ....
we hand feed them with fruits and nuts .
You can get them from any near pet shop .....
we will be sending them over with a care and feeding manual ( booklet ) which will help you out if it is your first experience .

We did the announcement on the internet because we are looking to give out them out asap and to a sure Hyacinth Macaws

 

[ShoniNikki]

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this is the 1st email from the first ad... no pics...

Hello Dear,
it is a Hyacinth macaw parrot that we want to give out.Its a female called Blue.she is 18 months old now.attached to this email is a pic of the parrot and i.Due to extreme personal reasons and life changes, I must find her a new home. It has nothing to do with Blue. Blue will not be the right bird for most homes, she needs a really special home. If you are looking for that special bird, please read more about her. If you are interested in her,I would be happy to talk about her with you, but only after you have read everything below.
Blue is is going through her first molt –hence the little white feathers - Sorry!. I have been training blue since she was just weeks old. She was hand fed and raised and trained to be a “PR” bird. What I mean by this, is that she was raised and trained to be in the public, and handled by the public. She has been featured in many photo shoots, and has been used for educational programs, nursing homes, exhibition shows, and much more. I raised her to be comfortable in the “public eye”. Due to her extensive training, she is very social and very friendly. she has a wonderful comical personality typical of macaws. she is quite the goof when you get to know her. she has none of the bad habits associated with most “older”birds.
Blue can talk, likes to lie on her back and to be cuddled. she is very affectionate and loving. she likes to be scratched on her head and under her wings. she steps up every time you ask. she has been well trained. she will do well in just about any home where she will get constant attention. she does not scream, and is very quiet for a larger parrot, again this is due to her training.
Unfortunately we are unable to keep this great bird due to serious changes in our circumstances.we want to give her out coz my husband and i went to the hospital some days back after i have been vomiting (approx. thrice a day) and also noticing general body weakness and the Doctor discovered that i am 3 months pregnant.Though good news to my husband and i, we weren't prepared for this as we we are currently in OHIO for our Honey Moon.Had it been we knew earlier of the pregnancy, we would have postponed our honey moon and stayed back.More so, the pregnancy has been causing much weakness in me so much so that i do not have that required time and energy to devote on Blue.for us continue keeping Blue is like preventing her from her rights as a pet.I feel like she's not having that required time from us to cuddle and pet her.Besides, i want to concentrate more on my pregnancy as this is the first baby that we are expecting as couples and won't want any extra load on me.We are enjoying OHIO and do not want to return back now, else we will just fly back.Besides, i do not like traveling when pregnant as it endangers my unborn child...''HONEY THIS IS OUR FIRST BABY AND I DO NOT WANT ANYTHING TO HAPPEN TO HIM'' says my darling husband...she's already wishing for a male child...OHH men... LOL...
My husband and i have decided to re home her to any gentle and loving family that is willing to usher the full required time to her.Hope your family is gonna be the best for blue if and only if,you can provide us with some info about your home...that will help us better understand your home.That's your family composition, their reactions towards pets in general, whether or not you've owned pets before and how do you intend welcoming blue into your home. Well i will be willing to give out the baby to your home provided you are going to give her all the necessary care and attention that she deserves in the world.i am not very much concerned about money now, all i want is to ensure that she finds a good home.
Blue is on a pelleted diet. she also eats fresh foods daily along with a couple of shell nuts every day. Blue needs a home where she will be out of her cage most of the day, getting lots of attention. That is what she is used to. If you think you are interested in Blue, please contact me. I will also include all of her toys and food samples. she is still a baby, and would make an excellent addition to any home. she’s better than getting a tiny bird, because she’s already trained. It will break my heart to part with her, so I would really enjoy a home that would keep me up dated on how she’s adjusting. I’m not asking to see her, that would be too hard for me, but an update now and again and pictures would be good.
N/B, since you are not located around us, we will have to arrange for shipping of the parrot okay...so, do tell us the name of your state of residence in time.regards

and this is the 2nd reply to the first ad...

Hi,
Please , i want you to promise me that you are going to send me update pictures of blue when you get her, because she's just like a real biological kid to me though i have to let her go. Atleast, this pictures will help me know how she's doing in your home.we're not actually selling the bird, but simply looking for a new home for her for the aforementioned reasons
Well, i just inquired the shipping cost from the shipping company here in OHIO that i will be shipping blue through and they said it will cost you $270 for the shipping fee.They also told me that there is a flight schedule to your location today at 8pm so i will like to get blue on the flight. you should send the following details which will help me to register blue at the shipping company for home delivery for, i want blue too be delivered right at your home.;
receiver's full names
state
city
street address
house number
phone number
name of the closest airport to your location
the above details will also enable the shippers to deliver the parrot right at your home, since they offer home delivery services .once i drop the parrot at the shipping company, i will give them your contact information so that they can get in touch with you with the flight details and payment information of the shipping fee, for you will be sending the shipping fee directly to them.
Note that blue will be coming inside her cage so you dont have to get a new cage for her . also, i'll be sending her with her vet records and a hand written 1 year health guarantee certificate. I will also include her feeding menu hand booklet which will guide you on what to feed her.
Once more, i still want to reiterate that you shouldn't break your promise on taking good care of blue once you get her because she's a darling. you will see that for yourself when you get her. i will be waiting for your reply asap


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[ShoniNikki]

sorry for some reason it cut the mesage off!!! This is the second ads response...

Hi ,

I am Mrs. Sally , I want to thank you for inquiring about our Hyacinth Macaws . Yes they are available and we are looking to give them out to any great and Hyacinth Macaws loving family . These two angels are called Koukou ( female ) and Kaka ( male ) . They are very socialized . well tamed , hand fed and will be a great pet for any Hyacinth Macaws loving family . They are good talkers and not screamers .They are 6 years and 9 month old , DNA tested and proven male and female . They have great temperaments and they have been together since they were chicks

Personal details :

I am 33 years old and married . My husband and I we have just open up a new restaurant ( Non vegetarian and vegetarian ) , work at the restaurant is very stressful giving us less time to cater properly for Koukou and Kaka . we do love them and do not have any choice at the moment but to give them out to any Hyacinth Macaws loving family . I am most concern about their health and welfare . They are micro chipped and they will be coming with all their health papers , a year health guarantee and their accessories. cage and other ....
we hand feed them with fruits and nuts .
You can get them from any near pet shop .....
we will be sending them over with a care and feeding manual ( booklet ) which will help you out if it is your first experience .

We did the announcement on the internet because we are looking to give out them out asap and to a sure Hyacinth Macaws loving family .

I will like to ask you some few questions regarding the pair of Hyacinth Macaws you want to adopt from us

- Are you a breeder ?
- Where are you located ?
- Do you have any experience staying with Hyacinth Macaws before or just the first ones ?
- Can you please provide us with your cell phone number so we can call or even text you with details about the Hyacinth Macaws .


As mentioned on the advert . We are looking to re home them and all you will be taking care of is their re homing fees . which will cost you $1100 which will include their accessories( portable stainless steel cage , toys ... ) and delivery cost .
if OK by you then get back to me asap . So that i will inform my husband and know what to do next .
Regards and hope to read from you again at your earliest time.

 

[dishgal1]

They both sound like scams to me. How could they ship her in her cage? I don't think that would be possible. Maybe I am wrong though. The wording in one of the ads sounds as if they don't know proper use of the English language. I would be afraid of either. Maybe you should tell them you will fly there to meet the birds in person and see what their response is. Make it sound serious.

 

[Pookamama]

The shipping service is a red flag. I saw a few like that regarding greys. I said I wanted to meet the birds in person and I never heard back from them. If you are seriously interested you could fly there on Delta and bring a bird back with you-then you would be able to meet the bird in person and know.

You could ask for a vet reference as well-and a breeder reference.

IF they are scams, asking to meet the bird in person and the vet and breeder references will scare them off and they won't contact you again.

 

[Lintini]

Both look like scams to me, the personal info being delt out like that, the prices, the wording. There are identical cases like this with dogs. I tried to sell my gaming account on craigslist and wow wow oh wow did I have a herd of scammers come running to my email box!

The price is the very first clue to give it all away honestly. If it's too good to be real, then it's probably fake. Not to mention the man in the photos looks like he is still stuck in the 70's .... Harry Potter glasses are IN!!! Spell check for incomplete sentences....

 

[Pookamama]

Oh, and ask about the name of the restaurant.

 

[ShoniNikki]

I am pretty sure they are both scams but I emailed them both back asking for references from breeder and vet as well as requesting to meet the birds in person first!!! Thank you all!!!

 

[plax]

I'm sure they are both scams. Ads for Hys like that are all over the Internet. While the pregnant woman has a fairly extensive vocabulary, she's clearly not a native English speaker (based upon her overall sentence structure). Of course that in itself doesn't mean she's a scammer. But in my opinion her tendency to over-explain things reveals that she clearly has no genuine experience caring for large parrots, much less Hyacinth Macaws. The detail that she provides was likely gathered from research as opposed to genuine bird care experience.

Others here have suggested some good tests if you wish to prove whether or not these offers are scams. I think the easiest and most effective test would be to request vet references from these individuals. Certainly the one citing 'vet records' (the purported owner of "Blue") shouldn't have a problem with that request if the bird actually exists and really has a vet.

 

[Rio Mom]

They both sound like scams to me too. The one keeps repeating "hyacinth macaws loving family" which seems a little odd. And the other saying they will ship the bird in the cage. You can't do that, birds have to be shipped in travel carriers. And maybe some airports do, but I've never heard of an airport delivering the bird to you, you have to go get the bird yourself.

 

[sonja]

They are both absolutely scams. Don't waste any more time.

 

[beer]

I got email something like those emails. Probably scams. But if it's may be true, I would called the vet who did a micro chip and check the bird info.
Another thing is that those scams won't gave you their cell phone number. So, if they didn't give you cell phone number, 100% scams

 

[Conuregirl]

There are some freighters and cargo companies that do deliver and make home deliveries. My family uses a cargo co called Johnny Air to send big boxes to Asia and the US. They will call you and schedule a delivery but these features are part of the service.

I do believe these are scams. I experienced the same when I was looking at apartments, cockatoos, and greys ads on Craigslist. My husband got annoyed at me for looking at these ads because most are scams. They always ask for shipping money or a deposit. These people had pictures and sincere story that they were in desperate need to get rid of their home or pet. What's really weird or a giveaway is the cheesy info form that they all use. Like this:

Name:
Address:
Occupation:
Cell phone:
Nearest airport:

 

[JJones1719]

Don't buy into this. This is a scam. No one in their right mind would ever sell a HY or give away a Hy. You know the old saying, if it's too good to be true it normally is. Best of luck to you and spend time looking for a bird from either a breeder or rescue. Joe

 

[Boysmom]

I am experiencing the same through a craigslist Atlanta ad now. Now its one bird was stolen from their Alabama home so they want to ship the bird for $200. Sounds like a scam to me as I could drive there cheaper than that but they are only concerned about the money. I dont think if I sent the money I would receive the bird. Some people are incorrigible. some type of law enforcement needs to stop these scams.

 

[JerseyWendy]

RED FLAGS!!!! Both of them, IMHO.

They should give you THEIR cell number or home number. They should ask you to come and visit them, see them, etc.

Don't EVER fork out money to an unknown individual like this, please.

 

[Echo]

Both scams!!!

 

[Thekatsmeow]

Okay I have to admit to something here......(clears throat)....I AM A CRAIGSLIST FLAGGER. When I see those ads or anyone who is careless enough to even suggest that they are selling and not re-homing, I flag them and mark it prohibited. I have been known to list my own ad calling them out on their ignorance and warning others. Also, and this one is hard to admit, I chastise people re-homing their birds at crazy prices. I let them know how irresponsible they have been in owning the bird in the first place then wanting to recoup the cost when they no longer want it. I am obsessed in checking craigslist all the time because I would love a houseful of feathered babies and I understand that some situations call for re-homing but I can't pay the price most of them are asking. To think that money would ensure the health and safety of your baby is ignorant. Who has the time to care and love for these birds? Someone who is home which means disability or retired. Neither of these classed of people can put out a chunk but they can fir it into their monthly budget just fine. Okay enough of my rant.....off to flag more people and call them names that my babies will surely learn to say lol

 

[BarkleyLoves]

Sounds like a scam. I worry about the lack of command of the English language and sentence structure. Of course, I am a little nutty about grammar and using proper English so that could just be me.

I agree, ask if you can meet the birds. If it's not a scam, they shouldn't mind.