If a deal seems to good to be true, it is. You have heard that before, but the combination of adorable kittens and bargain prices might still entice you, especially if you cannot find a local breeder or afford a kitten from them.

The Better Business Bureau reports that such scams stole $53,000 from Americans in 2019. But Covid-19 increased the need for purring company with losses exceeding $3.2 million.

The good news is how easy it is to detect such scams. Photos of Maine Coon kittens are uniformly precious, as is the price. A breeder kitten almost always is $1000-$3000, but these sites offer for $400 with “free” or discounted shipping.

The first sign of a scam is the immediate availability of kittens. Maine Coons are so desirable that buyers typically must be on a waiting list. But scam sites have dozens of available kittens with a “buy now” option. They claim to send you a kitten via overnight courier with delivery to your door or nearest airport.

What a deal!

These scammers may have realistic websites, but the grammar is bad, and the photos of kittens have different backgrounds because they are stolen from several legitimate sites. In other words, there are no kittens.

If you select a sentence from scammers’ “About Page,” and put it into Google, you’ll see dozens of sites with the same bad grammar.

If you take the bait, you will be directed to pay via Zelle, Venmo or other pay site that will not return your funds. Your money is gone forever. But not communication from the scammer.

You’ll then get an email or text that your kitten is ready to fly to its forever home but the airline asks that you pay hundreds of dollars more for an air-conditioned or special crate. Once you do that, there will weather delays and demands for more funds.

Now that you have invested physically and emotionally in your new kitten, you will be alarmed that it became ill and so you must pay vet bills.

These demands vary depending on how much you’re willing to pay.

After you pay, you will be blocked and never be able to recover any money. Worse, you’ll have to explain to your partner, family of child that the kitten is not coming.

Scammer signs:

1. Beautiful Maine Coon kittens with different backgrounds in photos.
2. Easy availability. No waiting.
3. Bargain prices–as much as a fifth of what you would normally pay a breeder.
4. No physical address that you can check on Google Maps. (If you get such an address by repeatedly asking for it, it will probably be a pet shop that the scammer randomly chose.)
5. No telephone number and no visit to the cattery. Everything must be done online.
6. Free or discounted shipping.
7. Bad grammar used on multiple sites.

Here’s an example of bad grammar from a scam site called Meganmainecoonkittenshome.com . (Don’t engage here–it’s a scam!)

The highlighted text can’t even get the breed of kitten right. It’s a Maine Coon site but the person states she has been breeding Siamese kittens since 2018. “Cattery” is misspelled. You find awkward phrases such as “full-right members” or a “situated” farm.

If you ever fall prey to the scam, you won’t get your money back but you can report the site to the  FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, Federal Trade Commission and Better Business Bureau.

A legitimate breeder will have a physical address. You should be able to telephone the breeder to ask questions and see photos of kittens’ parents. You should be able to visit the cattery. You also can check out the breeder’s name with organizations such as the International Cat Association or Cat Fanciers’ Association.