To avoid becoming the victim of an internet scam, we strongly advise potential clients to avoid any teacup puppy that lacks a physical location in which clients can visit the puppies in person. There are countless criminals across the internet running various scams – from misrepresenting their puppies with photoshopped images to completely defrauding unsuspecting victims out of their money. Read on to find out how you can avoid becoming the victim of a puppy scam on the internet.

Beware of the tiny puppy with the unusually large round eyes and the tiny button nose.

Chances are… if the puppy looks more like a doll than a puppy, it’s probably a photoshopped image. Often advertised as “Korean puppies,” their features are heavily exaggerated in Photoshop. This is a common occurrence, as many online puppy dealers have been doctoring their images in Photoshop to make their puppies appear much smaller and more exotic looking than they actually are. Unusually large round eyes, tiny button noses, and smooshed in faces are all features that are often faked with photo editing software. Without a physical location to visit, clients can’t see the puppy for themselves – so when the puppy arrives, it’s much larger than advertised and doesn’t look anything like it did in the picture. Here at Las Vegas Puppy World we only use color correction tools to edit our photos and never alter the features of our puppies to make them appear to be something that they’re not. We also have a physical location where clients can view our puppies in person at any time during our regular business hours – no appointment necessary!

Beware of any person or business selling puppies online that asks for payment in the form of a money wire transfer.

Money wire transfers are completely untraceable, making them an internet scammer’s dream! We recommend that you never send money via wire transfer unless you have the product in your hands. It’s one of the most common internet scams going on right now, and this is how it works: A con-artist will steal images of adorable puppies from legitimate breeders (like ours) and post them online advertising puppies for sale. When an interested viewer inquires about the puppies for sale, the con-artist explains that the puppy will be shipped after the payment is received in the form of a money wire transfer. Once the money is received, it’s gone forever. There is no puppy… because they never had any puppies, to begin with. The images were stolen all along. We know this because we’ve discovered our own images on various sites across the internet that were being used without our permission for this very purpose. This type of fraud is especially common during the holiday season. Las Vegas Puppy World will NEVER ask you for a money wire transfer. We accept payment in the form of cash or credit card only, and we offer to finance as well.

To avoid puppy internet scams such as these:

1. Steer clear of any online puppy lacking a physical location. It’s always a good idea to stick with a brick and mortar, so you can rest assured knowing that what you see is what you get and also that the puppies are well cared for in a clean and safe environment.
2. When in doubt, request a video or FaceTime phone call. If you must purchase your puppy online, ask for a video or FaceTime phone call, so you can see what the puppy looks like in real-time without any alterations being made. As you can see here from the examples listed to the right, many of these scammers still post videos in hopes that nobody will notice the difference, but a simple freeze frame will prove whether or not the company is honest with their clients.
3. Make sure the business is licensed. A quick online search will confirm whether or not you are dealing with a legitimate business rather than a scammer.