Jones Petshome

I am thinking about purchasing a couple ball pythons and I would like some info about this seller before I commit to my investment. Here are the emails I received in case that helps.

Thanks!

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Jones Petshome to me
** CRAIGSLIST ADVISORY --- AVOID SCAMS BY DEALING LOCALLY
** Avoid: wiring money, cross-border deals, work-at-home
** Beware: cashier checks, money orders, escrow, shipping
** More Info: http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html



hello are you still looking?
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me to Jones Petshome

Yes, what ball pythons do you have?

-Mike
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Jones Petshome to me

Hello,
I am glad to read from you regarding my python.since i am on a research program to Anchorage
Alaska USA and i will be shipping them over to you from here
depending on how far you are from me if you will love to pick them up
no problem o.k o.k where are you located .they are
very sensitive snakes
and portray the following:-
they eat 2 times Daily and have adapted to that...they are very humble
and take to order like when order them to lie down.They are Micro
Chipped-Hand Fed,DNA tested and USDA Standard.they are potty trained
and gets along well with others.
But before we go deeply about the snakes,i would like to know more
about you and your family like:
Are you Married?and with kids?And will they welcome these babies home?
How is the nature of your job?
Do you want the snakes at this time that is as quick as possible


Also get back to me with your your phone numbers,City,Zip code.
With all the information above,i would be able to know more about you
and the home that my snakes would be going to.Below this attachment
is the most recently shot pics of my babies recent pictures hope you
adore them . i am asking 200$ for their travel
crates of the snakes so a crate for a snake will cost $100 also this
money will be paid directly to the delivery agency o.k because they
will be the ones to provide the crate o.k i am not willing to make
money out of them o.k
hope you can afford that?. so you will need to tell me if you will
love the both or just one o.k
Please email me back with all the information so that we proceed.
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Any info on this seller? Thanks!

Are you serious?

Did you somehow miss this part of their email to you:
"they are very humble and take to order like when order them to lie down.They are Micro Chipped-Hand Fed,DNA tested and USDA Standard.they are potty trained and gets along well with others."
So the snakes are humble and trained to lay down upon order? They are USDA Standard ... not to mention potty trained? They are "portrayed" to eat twice daily?

Those are some really exceptional over-fed specimens!

Yea tell him i want a potty trained retic

Nigerian scammer all the way. I would play along and see how bad I could piss him off.

If you thought those guys had some good snakes....MAN, let me tell you what I got!!! LOL

Listen to what these people are telling you. THIS IS A SCAM!!!!! Have you ever seen (or even heard of) a snake eating twice a day? Snakes (which have no ears to hear normal sounds) LISTENING and obeying voice commands??? Seriously?? LMAO!!!!

Originally Posted by charleshanklin

Nigerian scammer all the way. I would play along and see how bad I could piss him off.

I believe he is Alaskan

It's actually quite easy to train a snake to lay down. All mine do it. I slide out a tub and say "lay down!" and they just lay right there, it's amazing. I'm thinking it may have to do with them not having legs I don't know, because all other voice commands are proving to be very difficult to get them to respond to.

Seriously though, I hope you're not actually considering doing business with this person. Basically the entire email is full of HUGE red flags screaming scam.
The term Nigerian scammer has become a blanket term applied to anyone running these sort of scams from outside the country where they can avoid prosecution or even investigation. The practice originated in Nigeria.

I'd love to "adapt" my snakes to eat twice a day. Then I can spend 30x more on feed and have a bunch of dead snakes. What a deal, am I right?

Seriously though, it does help out a lot when they know absolutely nothing about what they are trying to scam you with. And I'm not trying to sound rude, but Mike, if you actually read that and thought that it could possibly be legit, then you might want to do a little bit more research on ball pythons, or any snakes for that matter, before you get them. They will never eat remotely close to twice a day, they will never be "humble" or take orders of any kind, you cannot potty train them, etc. As has already been pointed out, those are some amazingly bright red flags that you should have noticed.