We breed miniature bull terriers and sell puppies abroad, so we have an obvious interest in this subject. Scammers copy exactly the kind of website we run: nice photos, a friendly tone and promises about paperwork. That's why every check in this guide is one you can, and should, apply to us too. If we can't pass one, walk away.

The guide goes further than the short list on our home page. It covers how the scam works, the signs that are specific to mini bulls and to international purchases, and the exact steps for checking photos, domains and paperwork yourself.

What the numbers say

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) publishes puppy scam reports from its Scam Tracker. Its 2025 study update gives these figures:

Three points in the same update matter if you're looking for a mini bull online:

• Where it starts. More than 50% of pet scams reported to the BBB began on a search engine or social media.
• Paid adverts. The update cites Petscams.com, which found that nearly a third of more than 1,000 fraudulent pet seller websites it tracked used search engine advertising. Being at the top of the results page proves nothing.
• The script. Extra charges for vaccinations, "temperature-controlled" carriers and airline taxes, fake screening questionnaires to look serious, and refusal to meet in person or on video.

The median loss is only part of the damage. The BBB's full study describes victims who keep paying because each new fee seems to be the last.

How the scam works

The BBB's full puppy scam study describes a pattern that hasn't changed much in years. It starts with "bogus, often sophisticated" adverts and websites built with stolen photos. After the first payment, requests follow for shipping, a special crate, insurance or vaccinations. Some victims are told the puppy is "stuck at an airport" and needs money for food and water. The fraudsters continue as long as the victim keeps sending money.

The weak point of every version is the same: the dog doesn't exist, or it isn't theirs. A scammer can copy photos, text, pedigrees and even laboratory reports. What they can't do is point a live camera at the dog, the mother and the kennel while you ask questions in real time.

Pressure is the other constant. The FTC puts it plainly: "Honest businesses will give you time to make a decision." A seller who pushes for a deposit today because "another family is interested" is using the oldest trick there is.

Warning signs specific to mini bulls

General advice about puppy scams applies to every breed. These signs are more useful for the miniature bull terrier, because they rely on knowing how the breed is bred, tested and exported.

Puppies "always available"

Mini bull litters are small in number, and serious breeders usually work from a waiting list. A site that has several puppies of every colour and sex ready to ship this week, every week, should make you suspicious. Ours, for example, often says "no puppies available right now", because that's the truth between litters.

A price well below other breeders

The AKC's guidance is blunt: "Purebred dogs sold at deeply discounted prices are typically frauds." A low price is the bait, and the "fees" come later. Our guide to what a real price should include gives you a checklist to compare quotes line by line.

"Rare" colours such as merle, lilac, chocolate or blue

The UK Miniature Bull Terrier Club says these colours "do NOT appear naturally in miniature bull terriers" and are introduced by crossing with other breeds. A seller charging a premium for them is either not breeding pure mini bulls or using the word "rare" as a sales hook. Our guide to miniature bull terrier colours lists what the standards accept.

A health "certificate" without a laboratory or a microchip

Every serious mini bull breeder tests for primary lens luxation (PLL). A genuine report comes from a named laboratory and identifies the dog by its microchip number. A generic "vet checked, healthy" letter, or a PLL result with no microchip on it, proves nothing about that dog. See how to check a PLL certificate in a public database.

"Papers" that cost extra, or come from an unknown registry

A pedigree from a recognised kennel club is part of what you're paying for. Be wary of "papers available for an extra fee", or of registries you can't find listed by the FCI, the AKC or The Kennel Club. Our guide explains how to verify an export pedigree before you pay.

An eight-week-old puppy "ready to fly" to the USA

The CDC requires that "Dogs must be at least 6 months old at time of entry" into the United States. A foreign seller offering to ship a young puppy to a US buyer is either unaware of the rules or doesn't expect the dog to arrive. Both are reasons to stop. Our guide to importing a mini bull to the USA explains the realistic timeline.

Six checks fake breeders can't pass

These are the six points on the checklist on our home page, expanded with how to run each one and what a fake seller typically does instead. Do them in order. Most scams fail at the first.

The payment check deserves emphasis. The FTC's rule is: "Never pay someone who insists that you can only pay with cryptocurrency, a wire transfer service like Western Union or MoneyGram, a payment app, or a gift card." The AKC flags the same methods, noting that wiring money and gift cards lack buyer protection. The BBB's full study found that fraudsters almost never take credit cards.

How to reverse-search photos and check a domain

These checks take about ten minutes and need no special skills. Do them before the first message, not after the first payment.

1. Reverse-search the puppy photos. Save two or three images from the listing and upload them to TinEye or Google Lens. If the same puppy appears on other sites under other names, in other countries or years ago, the photos are stolen. The BBB recommends exactly this check.
2. Search a sentence from the text. Copy an unusual sentence from the "about us" page, put it in quotation marks and search for it. Scam sites often reuse the same text across dozens of domains.
3. Check when the domain was registered. Enter the website address in ICANN's registration data lookup. A site that claims "20 years of breeding" on a domain created a few weeks ago has some explaining to do. A new domain alone doesn't prove fraud, so treat it as one signal among several.
4. Look at the social media history. A real kennel has years of posts: the same dogs growing up, litters, visitors, mistakes. A profile with 30 perfect photos uploaded in one week is a warning sign.
5. Check the contact details. Search the phone number and email address. A single free email address and a messaging number with no landline or address are common in fake listings.
6. Look for the breeder outside its own site. Breed club membership, show results or health databases that list its dogs are all independent traces a scammer rarely has.

Our own photos are on our site and on our Instagram. If you find one of them on another site selling puppies, please tell us. It happens to real breeders all the time.

Extra checks when you buy from abroad

International purchases have their own traps, because the buyer doesn't know the rules and can't drive over to see the puppy. Scammers use that.

• Official forms are cheap or free. The CDC Dog Import Form for the USA costs nothing: the CDC lists its cost as "Free". A seller asking you to pay a "CDC fee" or "customs bond" to release a puppy is inventing it.
• Check the dates add up. Rabies vaccination, waiting periods and minimum ages set the earliest possible flight date. For the UK, see our guide to UK import rules. If the promised date is impossible, so is the puppy.
• Verify any shipping company yourself. Fake "pet transport" sites are part of the same scam. Find the company independently, and call the airline to confirm it carries live animals on that route.
• Ask for a written, itemised quote. Every cost for your country, before you pay. New fees appearing after payment is the core of the scam.
• Ask who drives the puppy to the airport. A real breeder knows the airport, the cargo terminal and the airline's rules, and will explain them without hesitating.

Apply the checks to us

This is the section most breeder articles leave out. We wrote the checklist, so here is what we show and what you should verify independently:

• Video call: live, at a time you choose, before anything is paid. You see the kennel and meet the mother.
• Licence: ask us for the licence number and the public register where it appears, then check it without our help.
• Health: the parents are DNA-tested for PLL, and you get the laboratory's own report. See our health-tested parents.
• Contract: in your language, with a health guarantee and a return clause, signed by both sides before the reservation is paid.
• Payment: bank transfer or card, with an invoice. Never Western Union, never crypto, never a private account.
• References: ask for families in your country and contact them yourself.

If anything we tell you doesn't match what you can verify, stop. That applies to us exactly as it applies to anyone else.

What to do if you've already paid

Act fast. The sooner you contact the company that moved the money, the better the chance of stopping or reversing it. The FTC's guide What To Do if You Were Scammed gives this advice by payment method:

Then report it, even if the money is gone. Reports help take sites down and warn the next buyer.

• USA: the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and the BBB Scam Tracker.
• UK: in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Report Fraud (0300 123 2040); in Scotland, Police Scotland on 101. Report the website itself to the NCSC. Both routes are on the NCSC's reporting page.
• Canada: the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (1-888-495-8501), and your local police.
• Anywhere: Petscams.com collects reports of fake pet websites, and the BBB lists it as a resource.

Keep everything: messages, the website address, screenshots, payment receipts and the names given. Be careful with anyone who contacts you offering to recover your money for a fee. That's a common second scam.

FAQ

Sources

• BBB, 2025 study update: puppy scams and Puppy scams (full study)
• FTC Consumer Advice, How To Avoid a Scam and What To Do if You Were Scammed
• AKC, How to Spot a Puppy Scam Online (updated 9 July 2024)
• CDC, Requirements for dogs from dog rabies-free or low-risk countries
• Miniature Bull Terrier Club (UK), Approved and non-approved colours
• NCSC, Report a scam website
• Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre, Report fraud and cybercrime
• ICANN, Registration data lookup

General consumer information, not legal or financial advice. If you have lost money, contact your bank or card issuer and the reporting service for your country.

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