How To Identify Online Scams
Scammers are getting more sophisticated, so it's important to stay alert. One of the latest scams involves someone offering to pay using an "electronic cheque" or a "mobile cheque deposit". They’ll ask you to open your mobile banking app to deposit the cheque — but in doing so, they can trick you into giving them remote access or sensitive login information.
🚩 Red flags to watch for:
- A user moves the conversation unusually quickly to how they will be paying you with excuses for why they require a specific and unusual method
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They insist on paying by "electronic cheque" or "mobile cheque deposit"
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They pressure you to open your banking app during the conversation or through an email link
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They ask for information that is from your banking app - such as a One-Time-Passcode (OTP) or details inside your account
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They avoid secure payment methods like Stripe
✅ How to protect yourself:
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Never share banking details or access your mobile banking app at someone else’s request
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Only accept payments through Stripe via the Paction platform
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If something feels off, stop the conversation and report it to Paction Support
Paction is a pup-to-parent rehoming platform with verified identities for both breeders and prospective pup parents.
Paction facilitates the following for breeders:
Create Listings - Maintain an impressive profile and post professional listings in minutes.
Showcase your Breeding Program - Show your clients that you are part of the Paction Certified community and display details of your health and genetic testing, how you raise your pups, and everything that makes your breeding program unique.
Stay Organized - Use Paction's workflow tools to organize visits and video calls from pup parents and manage your waitlists.
Receive payments - Use Paction's secure payment integration to collect deposits and payments while staying organized with dashboards.
Paction is currently open for breeders across Canada. Most importantly, Paction supports reputable breeders who are operating with thoughtful and intentional breeding programs.
As an inclusive platform, it is designed to celebrate all types of responsibly-bred dogs. The platform services purebred breeders, preservation and CKC breeders, while also embracing the responsibly-bred designer mix breeders too. Paction feels that it’s important that all dogs are represented when prospective dog owners are searching for their perfect fit.
After sign-up, breeders are prompted to review Paction’s Certification Agreement. In order to unlock the features of the platform, breeders must initial and sign this Agreement to certify that they are adhering to the principles of the Certification Program. Paction’s Terms & Conditions are written such that if Paction has sufficient evidence that a breeder has broken the terms of the Agreement, Paction has the right to remove a particular breeder from the platform. Paction also has a report user feature. Of course, we hope these measures never have to be implemented.
Dam and sire profiles showcase health test results with fields to display OFA, PawPrints Genetics, embark results and any other relevant results. Paction also encourages breeders to upload the corresponding supporting documentation. Ultimately, Paction encourages transparency and sets breeders up to showcase the details of what makes their breeding program responsible and intentional.
The breeders on Paction help shape the learning curve for those shopping for a dog by serving as an example of what health and temperament information should be provided to a prospective pup parent when shopping a litter of pups.
Paction has also implemented a robust review system to help breeders establish their reputation. See more on reviews below.
If you have any feedback and/or specific concerns about the terms of the Paction Certification, please share with us here.
Paction has created breeder Profiles and Listings to showcase exeptional breeding programs. Required are descriptions of the nuances of breeding practices and each breeder's health guarantee. Breeders can also share their licenses, business registration, and the associations and breeding clubs where they are certified or where their dogs are registered. For health testing, Paction showcases breeders' OFA, PawPrints Genetics, and embark results. Profiles also encourage breeders to upload the corresponding supporting documents.
Paction breeders are leaders in the industry. They are indirectly educating consumers on what they should be looking for and asking about as many puppy shoppers don’t do an adequate job asking about the details of temperament, lineage, genetic or health testing.
Paction feels strongly that in order to drive change in a market that the demand needs to be armed with objective information and better education. The goal is to continue to brand Paction as a place where prospective pup parents go online to learn about all aspects of getting a dog, including how to spot a reputable breeder.
Paction is committed to creating unique resources for puppy buyers. An example is the Ultimate Dog Cost Calculator, a project that began as a large-scale research project determining that a whopping 67% of Canadian dog owners hadn’t done any calculations about the ongoing cost of owning a dog. It became clear that dog owners need to be better prepared for the ongoing annual costs of dog ownership in order to be the best pup parents they can be. Paction has since developed several other Tools housed in Paction’s Expert Hub.
Since people are more likely to take-to-heart insights from less authoritative messaging, Paction is growing a library of “Paw Prints: Stories from Pup Parents”. In these, dog owners share their insights on various topics focusing on what they wish they had known before they embarked on the journey of pup parenthood. The goal is to further build transparency and informed decision making across the canine community.
If you’d like to collaborate on educational content, please get in touch at contact@paction.ca
Paction is serious about protecting breeders from slanderous or unfair reviews. As such, Paction reserves the right to remove any reviews that appear to be written out of ill-will, are rude, inappropriate, or unreasonable. Reviews can only be left by an ID-verified user who has also interacted on a meaningful level with a breeder. Pup parents can add to their reviews over a period of 12 months, up to 3 times total. For every addition to the review, the breeder can add a public reply. Paction is committed to staying close to the review process and addressing any iterations required to provide accuracy and value with the review system.
If you have any feedback and/or specific concerns about the review process, please share with us here.
For breeders, Paction is offering a 6-month free trial and then, will charge a subscription fee of 29.99 + HST quarterly. You may cancel anytime and reactivate your profile at any time. A quarterly subscription provides the advantage of allowing a breeder to list one or few litters a year without paying for the service annually.
Paction has Stripe built into the platform and charges a 4.5% transaction fee.
There is no cost for puppy buyers to create an account and engage with breeders.
Paction considers itself as an organization to be on the spectrum of embracing animal welfare values (which is quite distinct from the more extreme animal rights movement). We believe that pup parents and breeders should work together to protect the welfare of dogs, both generally speaking for the breed and on the level of the individual pup.
A true animal rights activist may critique Paction as being “anthropocentric” in approach, as Paction aims for incremental change primarily driven by what's best for people too (referring to Paction’s breeders and dog owners).
Across the site, Paction calls dog owners “pup parents” and this is a conscious decision to impart the level of responsibility and commitment that adding a dog to a household requires.
Most importantly, Paction intends to stay close to new legislative changes, often driven by animal activist groups, as these changes directly affect breeders and the community. Ultimately, Paction intends to provide tech solutions to new and evolving challenges as the industry continues to evolve.