Adoption Scammers

Sadly, adoption scammers are a real thing. Since our journey began we have been contacted several times by people claiming to have pregnancies or young children to adopt. In all those cases, there was no child and no pregnancy.

As part of our adoption journey we have been forced to join resource groups that share stories about these men and women. They usually keep their stories similar and reuse details. Adoption Advocates and adopting families turn the tide, and band together to share information so that the scammers can't negatively impact our amazing families. We go post the details of the involvement to help others see the red flags.

There are two primary kinds of adoption scammers.

1. Financial Scammer - There is a pregnancy, they will enter arrangements with you and accept financial assistance and cost of living expenses with no intention of adoption. They plan to parent their child but will use you to fund their lifestyle in the mean time. They begin their financial requests immediately after finding you, and are often working together in groups. They are usually extremely easy to work with in the beginning, and then their stories start to fall apart.

2. Emotional Scammer - These are usually women who contact adopting families to mess with them. Some times it is a man pretending to be a woman. There is rarely an actual pregnancy or adoptable child. They want to make you cry, ask for detailed emotional explanations, and rarely ask for cash. They want to be taken care of or loved and will fake a pregnancy to try to have strangers be nice to them while they perpetrate despicable fraud.

Protect your family and always trust your gut. Listen when they speak, don't give away any personal information, and write things down. Also, refer them directly to your social worker or attorney and do not make any arrangements prior to verifications.