I would consider at least one phone call to be essential. There is absolutely no reason why a genuine person would not want a phone call. Breeders raise their kittens and puppies with love and passion, so they'll also be keen to ensure that they go to a good home. If the breeder lives in a country area (and claims that there is minimal phone reception) then ask them to call you the next time they are in town.

If there are excuses about why you can't speak on the phone then be suspicious and and be even more cautious double-checking everything else.

There are web sites everywhere documenting pet scams. Do some searching and read some of these sites. Learn from the experience of (heartbroken) others.

Be aware that this is an emotional purchase and therefore you might be impatient and not analyse everything logically. It takes discipline to e 100% objective.

Do a Google search for the image(s) that you have. You might get lucky and find those photos on another web site, which will help to confirm that it's a scam.

I did this with the two photos that I had but couldn't find them elsewhere.

However, someone else contacted me regarding another kitten and sent one photo. A Google search for that photo showed it was originally obtained from a breeder in New Zealand, thus confirming immediately that email was a scam.

what you will get with this tool:
Your IP address search will give you general details only about what is on the end of that IP address. Here's what you'll find out:

The ISP and organization's name
The IP's host name
The country it's in
The region/state
The city (see below)
The latitude and longitude of the location (a best guess)
The area code for that region
Any known services running on that IP
What you won't get:
You won't get anything like...

A person's name
The exact street address
A phone number
Their email address

.