California Zoological Supply - Horrible Scam.

I responded to this ad on kingsnake.com (he might post here on Fauna as well):

We Are A Lg Dealer Ready To Buy CB Ball Pythons, All Phases, prefer small sizes.We Require A Minimum 12+ Per Shipment if shipping. No mimimum if local drop off.They must be fat only and feeding. We pay the freight charges, we will email you a pre paid FedEx shipping label.We mail check within few day after we receive the order.If You Have Any Now Or In The Future Please E-Mail With Quantity And dealer Pricing offer.

Thanks
Tarune "TY" Dillon
California Zoological Supply
35-Years of supplying the Finest Reptiles since 1977
calzoo@aol.com
1-800-473-7845

I emailed them and told them I had some genetic stripe ball pythons for sale and a pied male. They asked me to send them over some pics and they said they would buy my male pied. I agreed. They said that I had to "send them the snake first and then they would send out the payment." I was very concerned about this and they would not give me a direct answer as to why they would not use PayPal but they seemed pretty reputable and said that they had been doing this for 35 years so I agreed. They sent me a prepaid shipping label and I sent them the snake. They then called me and said that the snake was dead on arrival. I told them to send the snake back at my expense but they refused. They wouldn't even send me pictures. They immediately got very nasty and told me stop calling them and blocked my number. Before I sent the snake we both agreed that we would split any and all losses if something happened to the snake. I don't know how many people they have done this to or if they only rip people off every some often to keep a low profile but this was a brutal scam. My snake was in top shape. I sent him using packaging from shipyourreptile.com and the weather on both ends was perfect. These guys are real pieces of work and I really want to fly down to California right now and give them a piece of my mind.

However, This is ultimately my fault as I should have never sent them the snake first without first receiving the money on PayPal. That is how the scam works. They ask you to send them your snake without sending payment. If any ad asks this of you just assume it is a scam and avoid doing business with them so you don't get beat out of your animals. I should have known better when they refused to use PayPal but I really wanted to sell my snakes. Watch out for this guy Dillon he is a real crook.

Their username here is "CAL ZOO"

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?p=575745

Dexter,

What was the address you shipped to?

They sent me a prepaid shipping label. I believe the address on it was 1615 East Saint Gertrude Pl, Santa Ana, CA 92705.

These guys did the same exact thing to me. I sent them 4 albino ball pythons. The next day when I called to see if they got there safely they told me that they were not going to pay for the snakes because these were not the snakes in the pictures I sent them. They were the exact snakes in the pictures! Four albino ball pythons ! same exact snakes ! I said "ok, if you don't want them then send the snakes back." They told me flat out NO ! They said no we are not sending your snakes back you didn't send us the right snakes so now we are keeping them and hung up on me. They didn't answer my phone calls email nothing. I went and made a police report and the police did absolutely nothing about it. They are a bunch of arrogant rude *******. They should be arrested I don't know how they get away with it.

Police didn't do anything ? Did they even look into it at all ?

Nope, they did absolutely nothing. The police don't investigate herp related crimes. I bet if I was walking my iguana or burmese python down the block and some old lady saw and called the police they would be there in no time with a shiny new pair of hand cuffs for me and everything. But as for major theft and fraud, forget about it, that would involve thinking.

This is theft. Since there are two of you and probably more, can't you get a bigger entity involved? I don't know if the FBI has an internet crime division that would investigate, but I found this.
http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

Hope you get your snakes back or find justice.

I used the ic3 site a year or so ago when I got ripped selling something online and they didn't do anything. It took months for them to respond and they just said it wasn't an area they got involved in.

I shouldn't matter if the snakes in the box were the same snakes in the picture! He still received 4 Albino BP's & that is stealing! He should have paid for the snakes he received or sent them back if he was dissatisfied. I hope all turns out well for you guys. He'll get what's coming to him.