I was scammed first by Richard Clem of ChihuahuaGarden.com on August 22, 2023. I paid $820 thru Zelle. After one day, Jack Reck of Continental Pet Relocation asked me to send $1790 for the rental of air conditioned cage. He said that it will refunded back once the puppy is arrived here in Vacaville, California. Later in the afternoon, he called me because the puppy was put on hold at Saint Louis International Airport because the puppy needs the Pet Insurance and I need to purchase per USDS and FBI. I send $1500. $1500 is also refundable upon the arrival of a puppy. It’s too late for me that ChihuahuaGarden.com is listed at Pet Scams Website. Later on the next day, he send me an email again and asking me to send $1500 for the deworming and anti-rabbies shot at at San Francisco International Airport. Since I learned that it is a scam, I didn’t send $1500 anymore and not responding to the email anymore.

I called Jack Reck and Richard Clem to get my money back but they didn’t answer my phone calls and emails as well. Since I send the payments thru Zelle, my bank cannot help me with the returning of my funds.

With the help of Paul Brady (author of Pet Scams), I send my complains at CFPB and told already my situation. With the help of Wells Fargo Bank, they recovered $680 from Richard Clem (breeder). Since the Zelle and bank account of Continental Pet Relocation is closed or deactivated, then Wells Fargo can’t get my money back. I lost $4110 in total but I got $680 only back to my account. And so, I lost $3430 from Continental Pet Relocation.

Speaking of chihuahuapuppiesnation.com, I noticed that email used by Richard Clem of ChihuahuaGarden.com is chihuahuapuppiesnation@gmail.com. In the first place, I should be skeptical because if the website is chihuahuagarden.com, then his email address must be chihuahuagarden@gmail.com.

This is a big lesson that I learned. If the seller is asking Zelle, Venmo, and Apple Pay as a method of payment, then it is a RED FLAG. Most of the business owners are accepting credit and debit cards.

Anyway, I filed a police report, send reports to FBI, FTC, and BBB. I send also letters to two US Senators in California, and our Congressman here in Solano County. I hope that the legislators will create a law in order to stop the spreading of pet scams in USA.