Puppy scams: a $600 median, and 4.8% of victims reporting
The Better Business Bureau's 2025 puppy scam study update recorded 1,632 reports through September 2025 with a median loss of $600, following 2,278 reports in 2024 and 2,899 in 2023. Its most important figure is not a loss total: it estimates that only 4.8% of victims report the fraud to authorities at all. Analysis cited in the study placed 31% of scammers in Cameroon and 30% in South Africa.
- Year
- 2025
- Where
- United States, Canada, Cameroon, South Africa
- Outcome
- Ongoing
- Victims
- 1,632
- Schemes
- Puppy and pet scams, Ticket and marketplace scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-09-06
The facts, as recorded
- 2022: 680 reports to BBB Scam Tracker, $750 median loss.
- 2023: 2,899 reports, $700 median loss.
- 2024: 2,278 reports, $680 median loss.
- 2025 through September: 1,632 reports, $600 median loss.
- The study estimates only 4.8% of victims report the fraud to authorities.
- Analysis cited in the study placed 31% of scammers in Cameroon, 30% in South Africa and about 3% in India, with India-based groups registering most of the domains.
- Payment is typically requested through an online payment service such as Zelle or Venmo.
A note on this source
The Better Business Bureau is a non-governmental consumer organisation, not a regulator, and its Scam Tracker collects self-reported complaints. That makes this weaker evidence than a national agency’s statistics — but on this particular scheme it is the best structured data that exists, because no government agency breaks pet scams out as a category.
We have said so rather than presenting it as equivalent to the FTC and IC3 figures used elsewhere on this site.
Why this case matters
4.8%.
That is the study’s estimate of how many victims report a pet scam to authorities. If it is even roughly right, the reported figures on this page represent about one incident in twenty.
It is easy to see why. The loss is a few hundred dollars, there is no realistic prospect of anyone investigating, and the victim feels foolish about something they wanted very much. Every one of those factors suppresses reporting, and together they make this among the most under-measured schemes on the site.
The median is the point
$600 to $750 across four years. Not life-changing, and that is precisely why the scheme survives: individually too small to investigate, collectively substantial, and almost entirely invisible in national statistics.
The declining median across 2022 to 2025 is worth noting but not over-reading — with volumes this small and reporting this sparse, it could be composition rather than pricing.
The escalation that makes it worse
The FTC’s description names the mechanism that distinguishes pet scams from ordinary non-delivery: the first payment is not the last. After the deposit come requests for a special crate, insurance, vaccination certificates, a customs fee, a temperature-controlled shipping surcharge.
Each is small relative to what has already been paid, each is framed as the last obstacle between the buyer and the animal, and each exploits the fact that the buyer is now emotionally committed to a specific dog with a name and photographs.
What it tells you about the scheme
The geographic estimate — 31% Cameroon, 30% South Africa, and most domains registered from India — is an analytical attribution rather than an enforcement finding, and should be read as such. What it does usefully indicate is that these are organised operations running many sites, not individuals with one fake listing.
Sources
- 2025 Study Update: Puppy Scams. Better Business Bureau (US). Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: All report counts, median losses, the 4.8% reporting estimate, the geographic breakdown and the payment methods.
- Getting a pet? Avoid scams. US Federal Trade Commission, Consumer Advice. Accessed 2026-09-06. Supports: The FTC's account of how pet sale scams operate and its guidance on payment methods.