How to buy a Maine Coon and avoid getting scammed

Sadly in todays world, being scammed is far too common. I cant tell you how many times I've spoken with clients who had been scammed out of large deposits on kittens that didn't even exist. By the time they found us it was too late for them. So I decided to write down some tips, in hopes of preventing you from being scammed out of your hard earn money.

These fraudsters are everywhere, and they're especially prevalent in the Maine Coon world. Adopters are easy marks for these criminals, because you see a picture of an adorable kitten, you fall in love and you're no longer looking for red flags.

Well, don't be alarmed. Avoiding scammers is actually incredibly easy for someone who knows what to look for. After I show you some of the signs, you will be able to weed out these fraudsters within a matter of seconds. Literally, seconds!

Now let me be clear, these are tips on avoiding being scammed. As in you place a payment on a kitten and the seller ghosts you, leaving you empty handed. There's a difference between a scammer and an unethical breeder. With the unethical breeder you may actually receive what appears to be a Maine Coon kitten. I will leave that discussion for my next article where I will help you distinguish between a reputable breeding establishment and a BYB.

In the mean time, put your wallets away and read on before committing to that cute kitten you saw on Craigslist.

Tip #1 - The price is too good to be true

I'd say this is the biggest give away when dealing with a scammer. If you're bargain shopping for a Maine Coon you're already off to a bad start. You need to understand that behind the purchase price of a MC kitten is countless hours already invested into this kitten and often times hundreds of thousands of dollars invested into a breeding program. The purchase price of a well bred kitten may seem high, but for the most part breeders are just working on keeping the lights on so they can continue to preserve and protect this breed.

The typical price for a pet quality Maine Coon kitten is $2500-3500. In some regions this can be less or more.

My number one tip is if you find a Maine Coon kitten in The United States for under $1,000 it is almost always a scam. Sometimes breeders offer retired adult cats at a discount, this really the only exception to the rule.

Tip #2 - You can't reach the breeder

If they wont talk to you on the phone, its a scam. Sure, breeders are very busy people and for me as a wife and mother of two young children, I may need to schedule a phone call with you the next day or whenever I have a few minutes. But most scammers will not talk to you on the phone, one reason being most of these people are based out of other countries and don't speak English. Another dead give away is grammatical errors in text messages. The scammers are almost always using a translator, which isn't perfect and its usually pretty obvious to any native speaker. The language is just not quite right.

Now of course, you can have an great breeder who doesn't speak English. We import a lot of our cats from overseas and we have to use a translator but its important to consider the context of the situation before making any decisions.

Tip #3 - They wont send more pictures or video

Another give away, is a lot of different background settings in kitten photos. Look for uniformity in the background of pictures, if the photos are taken inside the house you should see the same wall color and decor in most of the pictures. Of course take into consideration the different rooms of a house but if the you are seeing many different cat trees, couches, a range of interior designs that's a major red flag. These scammers steal photos from real breeders, often going to their website or taking them from social media.

For example, I take most of my pictures on our leather sofa, You can see our pastel green walls, clean light oak floors, and white trim. I wouldn't randomly have a picture of a kitten on a futon in a 70's built house with wood paneling. If you don't see a lot of the same background in photos that is definitely a red flag.

If in doubt you can always ask for more pictures and video of a particular kitten, this should be no problem for a breeder.

Tip #4 - A website is not enough

So you found a breeder with a professional looking website and beautiful kittens. They have to be legitimate right? Absolutely not. I did a quick google search for "Maine Coon kittens for sale" and the first website to pop up was a scammer. Named "Ash Maine Coons", it looked legitimate. I clicked on the available kittens and I immediately recognized some of the pictures had been stolen from Russian breeders. A pet buyer likely wont notice this, but like I warned about above, most of the backgrounds in the photos are very different. No matter how professional a website, or social media account seems you need to do more digging.

Tip #5 - Examples

By now, you should have a good idea if this person is trying to rip you off. Requesting a phone call, pictures and videos of the kitten will have scared away the vast majority of scammers.

So what does a scam look like? Well, Ill show you. I searched "Maine Coon kittens for sale" in Facebook and Google and I clicked on the very first result of each. Both were scams, but using the knowledge I shared you should be able to spot them within the first few lines of conversation.

The kitten for sale on Facebook was $200, so already we know this is a scam. They gave me a phone number but they would not answer and said they'd call me back. They never will.

The scammer with the Google website put a little more work into it. They had a professional website, with stolen photos, little information and no phone number. I sent them an email and they replied via text telling me the kittens are $800, and they will ship for $115, so already we know this is a scam.

I attached screenshots of everything so you have a better idea of what this looks like. Not all scams are so easily detected so its up to you to do your research. Never rush into purchasing a pet, this is a 15-20 year commitment and it deserves a lot of thought.

If you still need help,

just call us. If you think you're about to get scammed, or you want a recommendation on a breeder give us a call. I'll only recommend breeders that I know, so I can't vouch for them all but I can help you look for red flags. Most importantly, trust your gut. If you have the smallest suspicion that something's off, you're probably right.