Kitten Scams in Australia: How to Spot and Avoid Them

Pedigree kittens are one of the most frequently targeted categories in Australian online scams. The listings look convincing, the photographs are real, and the price is often just low enough to feel like luck. Here is how these scams work and how to protect yourself.

How the most common scams work

The stolen-photo listing. Scammers lift photographs from legitimate breeders’ websites or social media and repost them as their own. The kitten is real; it simply does not exist at that address.

The phantom deposit. You are asked to pay a deposit to “hold” a kitten, usually by bank transfer or gift card. The kitten never materialises and the seller disappears.

The transport fee trap. After you pay for the kitten, a second request arrives for “insured transport”, “customs clearance” or a “temperature-controlled crate”. These fees keep coming and no cat ever arrives.

Warning signs in a listing

• A price far below the normal range for the breed — pedigree Russian Blues generally sit around $2,400 to $3,000 in Australia
• Refusal to video call, or seeing the kitten with its mother
• Pressure to pay today, with a story about other buyers waiting
• Payment requested by bank transfer, gift card or cryptocurrency
• Stock photos, or images that appear on other websites
• Vague or defensive answers about health and registration
• The seller has many unrelated breeds available at once

How to protect yourself

Insist on a live video call and ask the seller to show something specific — a toy, a particular room, the kitten responding to their voice. Pay by a method that offers protection, and never send a deposit before you have seen the kitten alive and with its mother. A legitimate breeder will never object to any of this.

What a genuine breeder looks like

Real breeders ask you as many questions as you ask them, because they care where their kittens go. They have a documented process, a FAQ they will happily expand on, verifiable health records, and they will let you take your time. You can read our own approach on the about us page.