Bengal Classifieds: Fraud Protection Advice

Buyer and Seller Safety Advice

BengalClassifieds.com endeavours to maintain a fun and friendly environment in which breeders and potential purchasers are honest and trustworthy. To help promote smooth transactions, BengalClassifieds.com would like to remind you about some important steps you can take to ensure that your buying and selling experiences on BengalClassifieds.com is enjoyable and trouble free.

Below is a list of things to keep in mind. These tips are not designed to scare you, but to encourage you to be smart and use common sense when using the Bengal Classifieds service.

Breeder Advice

"What are things that potentially fraudulent buyers do? "

Ask for the Cat/kitten to be shipped to a foreign location.
Buyer offers a (fake) cashier's check of far higher value than the purchase price of the Cat/Kitten. The buyer then asks you to wire the balance back to them via a money transfer service. (Banks will often cash these fake checks and then hold you responsible when the check fails to clear.) The scam often involves a third party (shipping agent, business associate owing buyer money). We would strongly discourage you from wiring money.
Pay with an international credit card, cashier's check, or recommend an unfamiliar payment or escrow service.

Buyer Advice

"What are things that potentially fraudulent sellers do?"

Ask you to wire money into an international bank account. Seller may ask you to send payment overseas and will only accept Western Union or a similar money transfer service. We would strongly discourage you from wiring money.
Try to convince you not to use payment services, which offer protection (accepted services are those like Escrow. COM and PayPal).
Refuse to give you a working shipment tracking number, and continuously provide excuses about why you haven't received an item.
Sell an expensive item at a suspiciously low price.

"How Can I Avoid Fraud?"

At BengalClassifieds.com, we believe that buying a cat/kitten locally is the safest way to conduct a transaction. For National items, we strongly suggest taking the following measures to protect yourself from scammers:

Know what you are buying. Before making an offer to a breeder; ask questions to learn more about the cat/kitten they are selling.
Ask for personal contact information. Once you have agreed the price and have decided to purchase or sell a cat/kitten, ask for a phone number and call the breeder/buyer up at a random time to make sure he/she is receiving the calls.
Use a payment method with fraud protection. Many scammers only accept money by wire transfer, Money Gram, or bank transfer because buyers cannot get their money back and sellers cannot be tracked.
Keep records of all correspondence. Hold on to any e-mail, notes, shipping documents, and payment information. Be sure to print a copy of the ad! These records may prove useful in the rare event that you need to seek a refund from a seller or report an incident of fraud.