reptile scammer?

[DZLife]

What do you guys think? My buddy got this random email from a so-called "investment quality python" dealer



--- On Thu, 6/26/08, PYTHONS FOR SALE.. <[email protected]> wrote:

From: PYTHONS FOR SALE.. <[email protected]>
Subject: CAPTIVE BREED PYTHONS FOR SALE
To:
Date: Thursday, June 26, 2008, 12:09 PM

Hello
I am therah parson we specialize in the captive breeding of rare, investment
quality python species and designer morphs and have been keeping and breeding
reptiles for

over 22 years,we are now based in Michigan (USA), although our stock is
available here in the states(Michigan). We also ship to our customers around
the world.

AVAILABLE PYTHONS FOR SALE.
Albino Ball Pythons
Piebald Royal Pythons
Ball pythons
Black-Headed Pythons
Woma Pythons
Jaguar Carpet Pythons
Inland Carpet Pythons
Spider Royal Pythons
Angolan Python
We also have other pythons which are not listed above.

Collection / Delivery
Livestock can be collected in person unless other arrangements can be made.
International orders are shipped by air freight.

Guarantee
All snakes will be healthy and come with a health certificate, feeding and
correctly sexed unless otherwise agreed.

If, for any reason, you are unhappy with your snakes, you must contact me
within 48 hours of taking delivery and I will either replace them, or refund
your money if stock

is unavailable. Otherwise, I will assume that you are happy with your snakes
and therefore I have no further responsibility for them.

Deposits
As numbers may be limited on some species I will operate an order list without
taking deposits. However, once eggs have been laid, a 10% deposit will be
required to secure

priority. Orders with deposits will be met first. Deposits are refundable only
if I cannot meet your order.

Trade or Bulk Orders
Discounts are available on certain species to trade customers or for large
orders. Please contact me to discuss your requirements.

As we are a breeding facility and NOT a retail shop, visits are strictly by
appointment only.

Contacting us by e-mail if interested
Send an e-mail to therahparson at <!-- e --><a href="mailto[email protected]">[email protected]</a><!-- e -->,We will reply to all
e-mail as quickly as possible.
thanks and God Bless

 

[Nero]

Im gonna play it safe before I make any rash judgements But ya never know nowadays I been scammed a few times already by reptile dealers

 

[Harveysherps]

Well Have you contacted them to see what they have? Never can tell. Tim Johnson emailed me and offered me 3 albino boas. 1.0 coral line male, 1.0 Albino het snow and 0.1 Albino het snow. He wanted 1,000 for all three. I didn't know him from Adams house cat and he didn't know me . He just new I want some Albino Boas. I sent him the money and got 3 very good looking snakes. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to take a risk and give a new face a chance. But then again it could be a scam. Never will know till you check into it more.

 

[DaveDragon]

Scammer!! Too many grammatical errors.

 

[PuffDragon]

Way too shady for me. Why would someone email you from one address but tell you to reply to another???

From: <!-- e --><a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a><!-- e -->

Reply to: <!-- e --><a href="mailto[email protected]">[email protected]</a><!-- e -->

over 22 years,we are now based in Michigan (USA), although our stock is
available here in the states(Michigan). We also ship to our customers around
the world.

Ok, what is the name of the company? Who are they? Never says in the email.

Also, where are the prices? And who refers to themselves as "therah parson" (without capitalizing your name) and then later as "therahparson" (without a space this time in the name). Doesn't add up.

Scam.

 

[Mvskokee]

check them out on fauna

 

[PuffDragon]

check them out on fauna

Not on there. No matches for both emails or the name given. No google or yahoo turn up either. 22 years I would think they would get mentioned atleast once somewhere on the net.

 

[PinkPunisher]

My reasons are the same as DaveDragon, although i never noticed the two emails (Good eye!)

On a side note, love the third choice LOL

Spencer

 

[Harveysherps]

You guys make good points. I never really thought of the things you fellas mentioned. Good watching out. I would like to change my answer. LOL I do believe you guys are right.

 

[DZLife]

lol, I noticed the type-o's, the un-matching emails, and the fact that they weren't mentioned ANYWHERE on the web. I wanted to see what you guys thought of it.

I think it's a pretty surefire scam.....it's funny because it was sent to my friend Jack's email, and he's never even owned a reptile.

 

[Beazer]

In a few ways I can understand the 2 different E-mails. As far as cheap deals, my friend use to sell ball python morphs waaaay cheap along with boa morphs to move the clutch/sell faster. Grammatical errors dont mean much to me either because I make tons and I am a great honest guy, especially when it comes to dealing herps. However. The way he came about it seems strange. Also, his list seems a little bit randomized and not in order as you would see for lists. If he is a breeder he would have offered pictures and what not for examples. To me it seems like a letter made up and probably sent to a lot of people into reptiles and will operate for 3 weeks then you will never see the money or get a reply from the SOB again.
If you want to give them a chance, get their numer, address, fax, information on the snakes (if they are breeding black headed pythons they should have information on who the babies came from right off the top of their head). Also, ask their personal age.. 22yrs and dealing with that stuff just seems odd. Rare reptiles are my thing and just doesnt seem to add up. If you had 22yrs of experience you wouldnt be breeding only a few ball python morphs and such. Maybe womas/black heads yeah (be sure to ask what type of black heads and womas, if they are pros theyd know. And ask what line the angolans are from). Sorry I am rambling. I just really feel like it doesnt add up. If thats all they bred they should atleast have even offered/have picture profiles of their breeders/facility.
Also ask who "we" is. Because in some parts of policies they say "I" but then when going back to calling it a breeding facility say "we". If they have a partner ask the same questions. Do not E-mail questions because that gives them time to look up info.
Just cant stop being thrown off by their list. By no means are any of their animals rare. But as far as pythons go its just strange they toss in womas/blackheads/angolans which just seems like the more expensive stuff that an ameteur had seen on KS recently. And then the more common ball python morphs. I would not be suprised if this person ended up being from Canada because tehres quite a few reptile frauds being pulled on the states from there. Sorry lol, I type while I think and I think a lot. Basically, yeah, i think its a scam.

-Jon DeLong