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  Geebo 8:00 am on March 24, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Las Vegas ( 3 ), Los Angeles, Puppies ( 9 ), puppy scam ( 37 ), Scams ( 1,354 )   

  Victim drives from Las Vegas to LA in puppy scam 

  

  By Greg Collier

  A woman from Las Vegas was recently looking to add a Golden Retriever puppy to her home. Her 12-year-old Golden Retriever had recently passed away. She went to her local shelter but no Golden Retriever puppies were available for adoption. That’s when she decided to go online in search for a new addition to her home.

  She came across the website of someone claiming to be a breeder from Los Angeles. The breeder told the woman that there’s only one puppy left from the litter and the cost was only $500. She paid the breeder in advance and drove to Los Angeles that day to pick up the puppy. Sadly, the LA address she was given was for a house that was up for sale that no one was living in.

  Now, put yourself in this woman’s shoes for a moment. Imagine making the 4-hour+ drive from Las Vegas to Los Angeles anxiously thinking you’re about to add a new puppy to your life only to find out you’ve been scammed. Then you’d have to deal with that crushing disappointment all the way through the drive back to Las Vegas. Meanwhile, a scammer is off somewhere with your $500.

  Anybody can put up a website with some pictures of puppies they’ve stolen off the internet and call themselves a dog breeder. This has become a common occurrence among people who have looked to purchase a puppy for their families.

  To better protect yourself when buying a new pet, only deal with local breeders or shelters. Fake breeders who claim to be out of state will often try to milk their victims for as much money as possible for things specialized delivery crates and pet delivery insurance. In most cases, the puppy never existed to begin with. If you can’t see the puppy face to face in real time, there’s a good chance you’re being scammed.

  Even though the victim was not able to find the breed of her choice at her local shelter, we still recommend going to your local shelter anyway. Many shelters have waiting lists for certain breeds in addition to being able to adopt the puppy for no or low cost. Maybe even consider adopting an adult dog instead as they need homes too.

   

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  Geebo 10:10 am on July 18, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Dani Mathers, Detroit ( 4 ), live streaming ( 2 ), Los Angeles, Periscope ( 2 ), Snapchat ( 13 ), Stephen Drake Edwards   

  Does live streaming bring out the worst in us? 

  

  Live streaming has proven to be invaluable within the past few years when it comes to not only news but criminal investigations and social movements. Unfortunately, it’s also been used to commit disparaging acts as well.

  In Los Angeles, Playboy model Dani Mathers allegedly sent out a Snapchat of an undressed woman at her gym while making disparaging remarks about the woman’s body. Backlash from that incident not only led to Ms. Mathers being banned from the entire chain of gyms and the loss of her radio job but she’s also being investigated by the LAPD for illegal distribution of the Snapchat.

  Even more disturbing, 20-year-old Stephen Drake Edwards has been arrested in Detroit for allegedly brandishing a gun towards a man while hurling homophobic slurs at him. Edwards streamed the entire event on Periscope. He is even said to have done a second live stream on Periscope where he fielded questions about the incident. While he did receive backlash from the LGBT community he also had a number of supporters and therein lies the problem.

  There have even been more heinous crimes and activities that have been live streamed that have received positive feedback while they were taking place. The internet has always allowed distasteful groups and individuals to organize and communicate but live streaming now allows them to disseminate their messages and activities in real-time. However, live streaming is just a tool and like any tool can be abused for the wrong purposes. It seems these acts are more of a reflection of some of the more intolerant and ignorant subsections of our society.

   
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  Geebo 11:33 am on July 8, 2016 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Jeff Wysaski, Los Angeles, Obvious Plant, prank ( 2 ), Zoo ( 2 )   

  Off Topic Friday: Jokester posts funny fake facts at L.A. Zoo 

  

  Recently, at the zoo in Los Angeles, California, someone posted fake but funny placards around the zoo that contained phony facts about the zoo’s animals. All of the silly signs were in good nature as they contained such goofy ‘facts’ like “If you give a tiny If you give a tiny trombone to 76 ducklings, they will lead the most adorable parade you’ve ever seen.”

  The signs were all part of comedian Jeff Wysaski’s Obvious Plant project. All the different signs that Mr. Wysaski left at the zoo can be seen here.

  Not to sound like a Pollyanna about things, but we need more jokes like this and less mean-spirited pranks like ‘swatting’ and similar trolling.