Let's have another look at the invoice the scammer sent me:

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Page2:

This is one of the dodgiest invoices in the entire history of dodgy invoices.

The first thing that I saw was that the only payment method was via Neosurf, which I had never heard of previously. A quick Google searched showed that it's commonly used with online casinos.

I was fixated on getting that kitten that afternoon so it took a while to accept that it was all a scam. I just didn't want to believe that it was all false, which is why people so commonly fall for these scams.

However, everything about this invoice was a failure:
- There was no mention of any airline, flight number or flight departure and arrival.
- No proper business heading or logo, no address, no phone number, no web site, etc.
- Nothing on that invoice checked out as being true.
- The fonts - is that really Comic-Sans? Really?
- Other minor things such as the lack of Australian Goods & Services Tax (GST) and an Australian Business Number (ABN). These things are legally required on Australian invoices.

Although the logic was crystal clear my emotions did not want to believe that this was a scam.

When the name, "Department for Pets and Animal Transportation Services" originally came up in one of the emails I didn't take it seriously. I did a Google search for it, which confirmed that it didn't exist,

There is no such airline as Kalgoorlie Air. I had already checked and learned which airlines fly to and from Kalgoorlie, what their flight times were for each day.

It's rare and amateur for a business to use a Gmail email address. Most businesses, especially a freight business, will have their own domain name, eg www.kalgoorlieair.com.au.

There was some stuff about being a winner for "Outstanding Pet Care" but that was obviously made up as there was no mention of who awarded it.

The invoice said they're a member of IPATA International Inc (ie International Pet And Animal Transportation Association). Although IPATA does exist, there was no mention in their membership list of the Department of Pets and Animal Transportation.

This person should be jailed just for making such a dismal attempt at faking an invoice.

NOTE: I got lucky with this one - the invoice gave it all away instantaneously. However, other scammers are getting a quote for the correct airline and flight, and then modifying that invoice with different payment details. Even if the invoice looks perfectly correct it would still be worth calling the company and confirming the payment details.

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What I Did:

Scams involving pets rely on using the victim’s emotions to cloud their judgement, and despite the obviously fake invoice I still wanted 100% confirmation and closure.

So, I did a trick which made the person reveal their location and confirm that it's all a scam:

- Every device on the internet has an IP address, eg 153.22.171.189.

- When a device (ie computer, phone, etc) looks at a web site the server that hosts the web site records the device's IP address, and some very basic information about the device (ie operating system and browser).

- I have a handful of different web sites hosted on a server. I can log in and check the recent visitors for each web site.

- The invoice said to pay via "Neosurf", which is obviously a scam. A Google search for Neosurf showed that it is commonly used by online casinos.

- The invoice said to pay via "Neosurf", so I made up a fake Neosurf payment statement and put it on two different web sites. On one web site I called the image "Neosurf_Payment.jpg" and on the other web site I called it "Payment_Confirmation.jpg". Assuming that everything is from the same person, I wanted him to still click on each link (by making them look different from each other).

I found this Neosurf payment statement:


Using an image software application (ie Photoshop) I modified it to look like I had just made a payment of $200 that day:



- I sent an email to the cat lady, Catherine Bennett, with one web site link (eg www.website1.com.au/Payment_Confirmation.jpg"), and another email to the address on the invoice with the second link (eg www.website2.com.au/Neosurf_Payment.jpg"). This way the two links looked different, because I wanted both Catherine Bennett and the freight company person to each look at it.

- I got an email back from Catherine Bennett asking, "what is the meaning of this?". This meant that it was time to check the recent visitors for each web site.

- Sure enough, the last visitor for each web site link has the same IP address (ie Catherine Bennett and the freight company are the same person). No big surprise there, but at least I then had clear confirmation.



- I Google searched for a web site that could tell me the physical location of an IP address, and ended up using https://www.iplocation.net/ip-lookup

- I entered the IP address - 154.72.153.146 - and the results showed that it's in Bamenda, which is in northwest Cameroon, Africa. Right next to Nigeria.


So, there you go... there is a way of outsmarting and identifying scammers... but it requires a bit of computer know-how and access to a server that hosts web sites.

I'll continue my search for a Burmese kitten. I'm bloody miffed and upset that "Diesel" doesn't exist - I've been imagining him running around the house, chasing ping pong balls and doing all the Burmese kitten stuff.

But at least I now have 100% proof and closure that it's a scam. There is no absolutely no doubt at all.

I now also know to do this with any future contact about a kitten - I'll come up with another image, get the person to look at it and then check their IP address to confirm their location.

A really, really, really smart scammer would know that he can use a VPN to hide his IP address, but this trick will identify almost all scammers.