Sassy Koonz Official Accounts
If you’re not communicating with me through these accounts SPECIFICALLY, then you are not talking to me. I do NOT reach out to anyone personally through social media for any reason. The only way to get one of our kittens is to Submit a Request.
- Facebook Personal: Tracy Caywood
- Facebook Cattery: Sassy Koonz – Beautiful Maine Coon Kittens and Cats
- Tiktok Cattery: Sassy Koonz Luxury Maine Coons
Purpose of this Article
I am preparing 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 April 2025 and the scammers are getting smarter. I hope I can help protect you. I aim to prevent you from being a victim of these dirt bags by creating awareness of this malicious scheme.
There are tons of scammers on Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok. They use my name and cattery name to scam unknowing buyers! They’ve been doing it for years. Dozens, if not hundreds of people have reported them for impersonation. We always get “This account is not violating Community Guidelines”. When one account disappears, another pops up.
Before you buy any kitten, make sure to read this article completely. Then read the Ultimate Guide to Buying a Maine Coon kitten.
The Growing Problem of Maine Coon Scams
With the increasingly popularity of the Maine Coon cat comes an increase in the number of scammers. They’ll take advantage of you if you aren’t familiar with the adoption process.
This takes an emotional and financial toll on anyone who is a victim. The scammers usually “get you” for the deposit of $500 -$750. They never have a kitten in their possession. They’re using other people’s photos and reputation to create the scam.
The scammers even have websites that show up in the top Google searches. They capture a lot of traffic from people researching Maine Coon kittens.
Red Flags to Identify Scams
Here is a list of some red flags you can look out for when shopping for your Maine Coon kitten. Click on each tab to get a detailed description of each one.
Western Union, Cash App, Apply Pay
The price of Maine Coon kittens is steadily rising. The average cost of a kitten in 2025 is $3500 – $5500. It is considerably less for a retiree. . Scammers bait you by offering a kitten for a more “reasonable Price” of $1000. Sometimes, they may charge as much as $1500.
If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Do NOT send anyone money for a kitten that you haven’t thoroughly researched. Avoid impulse buying.
Free Delivery or Transport is also a red flag. No one delivers outside of their state for free.
Inability to answer detailed questions about kittens or the breed
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 with similar backdrops. Most of the time, they’ll use Watermarks.
Since scammers are stealing images, the photos are very inconsistent.
If you look at photos on a real breeder’s website you’ll start to notice a pattern of picture styles.
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.
Most of the scammers (until they start advancing) don’t show adults or parents on their scamming websites.
Every breeder in the world should be registered with a Cat Club. This is where the adults are registered. The litters are registered here too. New owners can also register their new kitten. They receive a certified copy of the Pedigree.
For every cat registered in a cat club, there is a Pedigree to support their blood
Many times, the scammers are having an attempt at the English language, but they suck. If it seems off, it probably is.
There’s some vocabulary in the Health and genetics Guarantee below 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.
Tactics Used by Maine Coon Scammers
Here is a list of some of the tactics that are used by Maine Coon scammers. Click on each tab to get a detailed description of each one.
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. Another scammer used a random photo of a lady with a red Maine Coon.
This is very common with scammers. They own and control the groups. If someone identifies them as a scammer, that person gets blocked. They get blocked when they try to alert other group members.
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.
If they see someone interested in a kitten on a legitimate Facebook page or Group, they will message that person directly. 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.
The price of Maine Coon kittens is steadily rising. The average cost of a kitten in 2025 is $3500 – $5500. It is considerably less for a retiree. . Scammers bait you by offering a kitten for a more “reasonable Price” of $1000. Sometimes, they may charge as much as $1500.
If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Do NOT send anyone money for a kitten that you haven’t thoroughly researched. Avoid impulse buying.
Free Delivery or Transport is also a red flag. No one delivers outside of their state for free.
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!
Scammers often make you feel like you must decide on a kitten immediately. They push you to 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. In fact only 3% of people who request a kitten from us are able to get one. You’ll have plenty of time to watch the kittens develop. You can see them on our website and social media accounts.
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.
I hope they’ll realize what people are doing. They should make some new rules. This will protect their users from falling victim to a scam.
Don’t Get Scammed! Watch This Entire Video
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” .
Be Careful and Do Your Research BEFORE You Buy a Kitten
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. Make sure you feel 100% comfortable doing business with them.
Tracy, I hope your blog post is shared and helpful to those that trust ordering and buying a Maine Coon kitten online is as easy as ordering from Amazon. I believe the true breeders would invite a conversation and share their contact information unlike the scammers. Something as personal as a new house kitten certainly deserves a bit more of a personal touch and accessibility. I’m sorry the scammer you discovered was using your beautiful parent breeding cats to market their fraud.
Thank you very much!! Our own Maine Coon died recently. We are looking at buying another Maine Coon, and we were looking at Star. However, the punctuation bothered us, and a gut feeling just did not sit right. We just loved the look of one of the kittens though. I am so very thankful you made this video because we had already started the emailing process and were about to phone her when we found your video! THANK YOU!!!
Watch out for Daystar too they just tried to sell me a cat with shipping cost included and didn’t even ask us our name
When I said we will pick up guess what radio silence.
I was looking into possibly getting a Mainecoon recently. I wanted a red male specifically and I found the perfect little guy for $600 on a breeding website that was set up as an AD at the top of my google list. He and the other kittens on the website were still available, which was odd to me because my girlfriend’s family breeds Boston Terrier puppies and I know that most are sold within minutes of posting if they don’t already have a reservation on them. I contact them to say I’m interested in the red one specifically and with the suspicion it’s a scam I ask for a video. They send me one and by now I’m convinced it’s real, except when I took a closer look the kitten they sent a video of had white paws and the picture on the website did not. I called them out on it and never heard back. 🙂
Any Maine Coon listed at $600 is a total scam. 100%
Thank you for this post. I was scammed by a site called Petkitten.com. I was sent videos and photos. No phone calls, only text. They insisted on a direct money or bank transfer or Zelle app. After a “partial deposit was sent, no more contact. I guess it could have been worse. My bank limits Zelle amounts otherwise I would be out more $. Lesson learned
I was emailing perezmainecoons and they had special deals on shipping, when I suggested having a friend pick up the kitten they cut off contact. I don’t trust anyone who promises too much
Great video
Can you check playfulmainekoons.com and Uniquemainekoons.com right now June 20, 2023. I think they are both scammers.
Precious Maine Coons is another scammer website I am fairly certain. I emailed them and then realized all the photos were different. They wrote me back via text, and asked if I could pay a deposit, and they would meet me halfway. I am in another state two states away lol.
Maine coon ready 4 pickup is also a scammer.
This really saved me! I was about to try to get a cat off of Dark Paws but because of this article you just saved me. I saw all the red flags you said on their website. I can’t even get a description of the cat without trying to buy it. As well as I was trying to find where they are so I could see them personally before getting one and they’re no address.
There’s anew scam where they now want to come to your house. I guess with the holidays around the corner, they’re all set to start breaking into people’s homes for the holidays. All I was doing was looking for free unwanted kittens that former clients didn’t want anymore. If they ever called to try to return them, I would help keep them out of the kill shelters. We need more people to be cautious of that too!
Just because a kitten is cute when it’s little, like everything else, it does grow up and if taken care of, will get old. That doesn’t mean one should get rid of your pet. If you’re going to adopt a pet, you should do so for the life of the pet. It’s not cool to get rid of your pet just because they agree and start to get old. That’s going to happen to a lot of us. The best thing you can do is be there as their best friend as they are for you!
I forgot to add, several scammers told me I could pick any kitten I wanted for free. They just wanted to come to my house to drop them off. They pressured me hard too! Thankfully, I’m still running a high fever after getting updated on some shots.