Scam Type
Other Scam
Business Name Used
Nathaly Calerna
Date Reported
Oct 13, 2022
Victim Postal Code
96789
Total Dollars Lost
$400.00
Scam Description
I saw an Ad on Craigslist to rehome 2 golden retriever puppies names Micky and Teddy. The initial ad came out for my area here on the Oahu island. Curious I sent them an email to their Craigslist account to which they got back to me and asked for my email. The lady that contacted me was nathaly Calerna. Stating that they were pure breed puppies and had been tested for all sorts of things stating that they were 12 weeks old and the rehoming fee was $300 for one and $550 for both. And need to ask a few questions before we could proceed such as home conditions, experience with dogs, phone number, when would I be ready to take them home, and why that specific breed. After they told me a sob story that went like this “We are so happy to get a reply from you and with the answers you have provided to our questions, we are sure that you would take good care of Teddy and also treat him with all the attention and care he deserves. You have absolutely nothing to worry about because he is Akc registered, has a spunky personality and also loves it when we take him on weekends to the park and for walks where he can play with other dogs. Actually the reason why we are giving out this puppy is simply because my family and I just moved to Watford City, ND and he is finding difficulties adapting to the cold weather here since he is still young, so our vet advised us to re home him to a family in an area with better conditions. So we are forced to re-home our baby to a dog-loving family, this really breaks my heart and it’s been a very emotional period for our family since we moved here. We will have Teddy sent over to you and your family using a fast, affordable, and reliable pet carrier service if you will not be able to pick him up in person. They will take good care of him and equally treat him with all the care and attention he will need during his flight. Our main priority is finding a caring and loving home for our puppy and that is the reason for the low re-homing fee of $250. We will not like to give our puppy to an individual or family that will treat him badly or plan to sell him in the future. What matters now is finding him a caring family where he will be loved forever, the way he truly deserves. CAN YOU ASSURE US THAT?” Then we talked about how to get the puppy to the island from where they were. Which I should have found a bit skeptical since the ad was originally for the Oahu island area. Any ways naive I proceeded to provide them with info such as my name, address, phone number and local airport. Stating that they could ship the puppy out with a safe pet carrier company for an additional $150 and they were going to be kind and drop the rehoming fee to $250 bringing the grand total to $400. She also discussed changing the ownership documents to my name. And how it would go from there. I asked a bunch of questions such as what documents teddy would be coming with. What food he was on. I wanted to know more about the parents. And the DOB of the puppy. As well as if his sister had found a home. They got back to me stating the puppy was AKC registered would be coming with ownership documents, vet records, food manual and toys. Upon answering all my questions I was sold and didn’t suspect much again naive to it all. They said if everything seemed okay that we could proceed with the payment method so that we could get teddy to me as soon as the next day. And asked if I knew about zelle. So I said I did her husband Mario brown reached out to me and proceeded to give me the information which didn’t go through so asked to use his eldest son information Jayson Woodson. I zelle him $400 and waited to hear back about the ownership documents. It was at this point that I started to see the change in character. I kept asking about the AKC number or document for teddy which I never recieved and kept getting over looked. I also noticed that the nice concerned for their puppy act went out the window. I asked for more frequent picture of teddy which I recieved but could tell it had been token the same day the ones they provided the first time. Also his id badge you could faintly see an address for Virginia. I also wanna mention that they provided me with videos of the puppies and calling there name. So they got back to me after a while with the ownership change. Which again seemed okay but was wondering where there AKC number was at since it didn’t provide that. Which I asked for on the docs before I signed for them. Anywho they never changed that I followed through and signed since at this point I just wanted my puppy home safety and had already paid. I was skeptical as I was looking up pet scams and had noticed that a scammer had used the same email script she had used on me. So I called her out and stated I wanted to make sure everything went smoothly seeing that there was scams going around. They seemed unfazed. The day of delivery it took them a bit to respond but all was normal until they never got back to me personally with the flight itinerary or flight confirmation. And the pet cargo info sent to me through the email wasn’t working and couldn’t be found. I panicked and texted every number I knew asking for updates the Mario the husband never responded and Jayson who was supposedly with her to drop off the puppy didn’t know who I was and never responded after that. I asked for my money back since they all went ghost to which she claimed her phone had died and was getting groceries and there was about 500 pets getting shipped out when she arrived and must be the reason for the mix up with information and if that proceeded to let her know and she would get out there immediately. I let her know my concerns as to which she replied that it was okay she understand and to send her a picture of the puppy once he got to me. Today makes 2 days she hasn’t even reached out to ask or seem concerned. The flight cargo company sent me 3 emails each with a new link to the company website. I got a call from them stating that the link should be fixed and to confirm my address. They responded and all was good until I got an email stating that I needed to rent a special crate for the puppy a refundable $1000 dollars. At which point I knew it was all a scam.
