How to Avoid Getting Scammed

Maine Coon Scam Tactics Updated for 2024

As I prepare to update this post about the new and latest Maine Coon Kitten scams, I find it hard to believe that people are still out there doing this. It’s currently January 2024 and the scammers are getting smarter.

WARNING: THE BIGGEST SCAMMER RIGHT NOW IS DARK PAWS MAINE COON KITTENS and CHRIS MAINE COONS!

They’ve optimized their website to show up in the top searches in Google, so they’re able to capture a lot of traffic from people researching Maine Coon kittens. Then you’re captivated by they’re very low prices. Remember, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is,

DO NOT SEND ANY MONEY TO THEM

Please read below some of the tactics that they’re using to scam people out of money and never sending a kitten.

Stealing Facebook Profiles of Real Breeders

The scammers are stealing profile photos of well known breeders, and creating new accounts with their name and profile photo. This makes the scammer look like the breeder! It’s hard to tell a fake account from a real one if you’re not familiar with the person, or how to identify a fake account.

A red flag is if the URL of the Facebook profile doesn’t match the profile name.

Look at the photo below. When you search for my name, Tracy Caywood, in Facebook these are some of the results. Notice how one scammer used my EXACT profile photo, and another scammer used a random photo of a lady with a red Maine Coon.

Creating Facebook Groups and posting Kittens for Sale

This is very common with scammers. They own and control the groups. This means that if someone identifies them as a scammer, and tries to alert other group members, that person gets blocked. They’re posting photos of other people’s kittens, testimonials from other accounts, and even videos. I’ve even seen them hire people to leave fake comments saying they love their kitten.

What they do is scour Facebook pages and groups, and reply to comments made by other people. They drop links to their groups, and offer a “friendly” invite into the group.

SCAM ALERT: Gentle Giants Maine Coon Cat Community

Watch the video below to see one Facebook Group Called “The Gentle Giants Maine Coon Cat Community” and witness a scammer in action. The admin has stolen my name and cattery name and they claim that “Tracey Caywood” has sent all of these kittens home to happy buyers. None of the photos in this group is me or my kittens.

Sending Private Messages to Interested Buyers

If they see someone who is interested in a kitten on a legitimate Facebook page or Group, they will send that person a direct message. The message will contain information about how to buy the kitten they’re interested in.

Most breeders aren’t even communicating on Facebook anymore because of this about the reservations of kittens. They’re directing everyone to their respective websites for information about getting a kitten.

Sassy Koonz does not and WILL NEVER send anyone a direct message through Facebook about any of our kittens. We have a very strict adoption system that is explained on our website once you become approved. We don’t go outside of our process to protect you, the buyer, from getting scammed.

Improved Website Design

When the scammers first came onto scene, their websites were very unprofessional. It was easy to spot a scammer. Things are changing now, and they’re improving their presentation. Be sure you know exactly who you’re dealing with when it comes to buying a Maine Coon kitten. Protect yourself!

Rushing you Into A Decision About Kitten

A common trait that scammers have is making you feel like you have to decide on a kitten and reserve it right away. They will say that other people are interested and the kitten may not be available tomorrow. This drives people to make hasty decisions and send deposits.

Sassy Koonz will never pressure you into reserving a kitten. You’ll have plenty of time to watch the kittens develop on our website and social media accounts before we ever release them to our Approved Guardians.

Be sure to stay updated on the scammer techniques by visiting this web page. I keep it updated as I see new scam methods being presented. I learn about them from victims who finally discover the “real me” and explain what happened to them. It makes me so mad, but unfortunately, Facebook does nothing about it. They get reported by numerous people and they say that the account is not violating any community guidelines.

Hopefully, they’ll realize what people are doing and make some new rules to protect their users from being a victim of a scam.

Is Dark Paws Maine Coons or Chris Maine Coons legit?

Dark Paws Maine Coon Kittens is the biggest scam on the internet right now. So is Chris Maine Coons DO NOT SEND THEM MONEY. They do not have kittens, and are not breeders.

Don’t Get Scammed! Watch This Entire Video

If you see an ad for “maine coon kittens for sale $450” it is a SCAM!! Read this article to learn how to avoid getting scammed by these fake Maine Coon scam websites.

Over the last 18 months, I’ve gotten several messages from people who have gotten scammed by Star Maine Coon (WARNING: STAR MAINE COON IS A SCAM SITE). I provided the link so you can follow along. They actually collect money from buyers that can’t be reversed, and you never get a kitten!

The WORST part about this to me is that they’re using photos of MY CATS to sell these Maine Coon kittens. These kittens that don’t belong to them, either. When I discovered that they were using photos of Illuminati and Wabi Sabi, I was livid!

At first, I didn’t think there was much I could do about it. But after the most recent message, I decided it was time to take action and help the community. Once I started researching this website and these scam artists, the angrier I became!

This blog post is an informative post, to walk you through the red flags of a scam artist. I’ve provided a video, as well as text and photos. Some of the content in the video isn’t listed on the website, and vice versa.

Red Flags on the Scam Artist Website

Plagarism Detected

Most scammers don’t take the time to write their own content for a short-lived website. So they’ll just find someone else’s website and copy / paste the content into their own site.

You can check to see if a website has plagiarized someone else’s content in one easy step using Grammarly’s Plagiarism checker

In the case of Star Maine Coon, I copied the content that was in their FAW section, which they have nestled very tiny at the top of their site. I just took the very first paragraph about what made them start breeding Maine Coons.

Then, I pasted that exact content into a plagiarism checker tool and did a scan of 16 billion web pages. This checks to see if this same content is used on any other website in the world.

I wasn’t surprised to discover that a significant amount of plagiarism was detected. This tells me that most likely, the entire website has been copied and pasted.

Images Can Be Found on More than One Website

Google has a cool little image search tool that when you upload any image, it will show you every website where the same photo has been used.

I took a screenshot of the first red kitten shown on the website (Camille) and uploaded it into the Google Image Search tool. I found this image being used on three different websites.

Star Maine Coon and Loving Lynx Maine Coons.

I had a look at Loving Lynx Maine Coon website and they are a legitimate cattery. They have some tips on how to verify that the cattery is legitimate and even have Star Maine Coon identified as a scam on their website. This is how the image was detected on her website, as well. WAY TO GO!!!

Since I can’t find the kitten on the original breeder’s website, I’m assuming that it has since been deleted.

Backdrops in Photos Are All Different

Most of the time, breeders have their own “style” when it comes to taking photographs of kittens. They usually take them in the same room or same area. If you look at photos on a real breeder’s website you’ll start to notice a pattern of picture styles.

On Star Maine Coon, the styles and backgrounds are all completely different.Have a look.

Same Cat, Same Background, Different Name

This one took me a few times of looking at it, but this is the same kitten, with the same background. She’s listed as two different kittens!

Domain Registration is Set to Private

When you register a domain name (your website URL), you can choose to register it as private. Typically people who don’t want to be discovered for the content on their website (i.e. porn sites) will use private registration.

You can look up any domain name to see the owner of the website. It will also tell you the date that the domain was acquired, and when it expires.

In the case of Star Maine Coon, they’ve seet their registration to private. For obvious reasons.

No Parents or Adults Shown on the Website

After scouring the website, and using a simple search technique, I can see every page on someone’s website. There is absolutely no page on the Star Maine Coon website showing any adults or parents of any kittens.

There are only 8 pages listed on the website. See a list of all of the pages on their website here.

No Facebook Page

I checked Facebook for any person or Page listed with the name Star Maine Coon. There’s none.

Don’t take this the wrong way and lump everyone who doesn’t have a Facebook page into one category. There are plenty of people who don’t have a Facebook account or a Page for their cattery. Sometimes, they’re just listed as their personal name and they’re hard to find if you don’t know their name.

It’s always a good idea to check for social media accounts.

Not Registered with TICA, CFA, or ACFA

Every breeder in the world should be registered with a Cat Club. This is where the adults are registered, the litters are registered, and where the new owners can register their new kitten and receive a certified copy of the Pedigree.

For every cat registered in a cat club, there is a Pedigree to support their bloodlines.

I checked TICA, CFA, ACFA, and CFF for a Star Maine Coon listing, and it doesn’t exist. Even though they mention “CFF” on their website.

Health Guarantee Doesn’t Make Sense

There’s some vocabulary in the Health and genetics Guarantee that just don’t make sense. If you take the time to read the health guarantee of other breeders, you’ll see what I mean.

“Copy and Paste” Descriptions for Kittens

Alot of the kittens listed on this page have the same exact description.

Gender on Kitten Profile Don’t Match Description

In one instance, the kitten is listed as a female, but they refer to her as a “him” .

The Star Maine Coon Scam Process

The scamming process is simple. At the same time, they make buying a kitten from them very simple!

My daughter went through the process as if she were interested in Oskar. And now we have documentation of their process. She didn’t use her real name, instead used the name “Nikki” for these purposes.

• Complete a Simple Form – The first step in their process is to fill out a simple contact form, indicating which kitten you’re interested in.
• They Send You a Text: They send you a text to let you know they sent you an email.

• Exchange a Few Emails: The first email explains how much their kittens are. In this case, THIS LITTER is 50% of? (WHO DOES THAT??)

• Get Photos Of Parents – They’ll send you an email with a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo about how they just want a good home for the kitten, etc. They also include photos of the parents (which are MY CATS)

• Send Them Money – They quickly move into the deposit/reservation process and give you several methods of sending money. All of which are irreversible. We didn’t send them money in this case. My daughter asked to see the Pedigree and they never responded.
• Bogus Contract – They go one step further and send you a bogus contract. Making it seem like everything is still going great.
• Never Get Kitten: YOU GOT SCAMMED – Then, you get ghosted. No replies, no responses, no kitten.

Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Notice

I found out who the hosting company of their website is (InMotionHosting)and contacted them for help. They referred me to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) Notice.

So I’m proceeding with filing a complaint of copyright abuse (using my photos as well as plagiarism) and hopefully that is enough to get them shut down. I’ve never had to do this, so I’m not sure how this will turn out!

I’m going to send them this entire blog post, in hopes that they will pay attention to the details and SHUT THEM DOWN!!

I’ll keep this blog post updated with any news I receive.

UPDATE: April 22, 2020 I submitted the complaint to DMCA. See the confirmation message below.

What Should You Do If You’ve Been Scammed?

At this time, I don’t think there’s anything you can do to recover any monies that are sent to the scam artists using the methods they require. They know what they’re doing, and will only take money using platforms that don’t allow reversals.

It is important that you take your time when choosing a Breeder to work with for your Maine Coon Kitten. You now have the information you need to know how to avoid getting scammed. Have a checklist ready to verify that they are legitimate and make sure you feel 100% comfortable doing business with them.

If your gut tells you that something isn’t right, then your gut knows best! Choose a reputable Maine Coon breeder FIRST, then choose your kitten.