What is an Adoption Scam?
Adoption accounts for one of the most emotional roller-coasters for one family or both families. While it may happen for various reasons, the end results of adoptions are always for the better. However, to trample dirt over the beautiful process of adoption, the scammers have entered this industry as well. Although this industry has not been as much exploited by these scammers, there are still some precautionary measures that you can take to steer clear of these adoption scams. If you find this article helpful, make sure to share it with someone interested in adoptions to save them from a possible scam. Read on to know the full story of adoption scams and how you can avoid them. We recommend you to read this Adoption Scam to know more about their scam
Common Types of Adoption Scams:
Out of the several methods embraced by the adoption scammers, here are a few common methods.
- Money Manipulating Adoption Agencies:
It is common for the adoption agency that you are signing up with to ask you for money in advance for a variety of reasons such as financially supporting the birthmother or helping with the delivery etc. However, if the agency is asking for money without giving you any proof of the birth mother or the baby, beware of the scam! Scammers often pretend to be well-known adoption agencies and pose to parents or people who are interested in adoption. They will win over your trust with all sorts of lies such as a healthy baby with no track of family inherited health issues etc. and demand money in advance. This money is often spent up by them rather than actually putting it to proper use thereby fooling you. Anyone asking for money above 50,000 USD for the adoption including the travel fee must be put as a suspect immediately. - Birth Mother Scams:
This is termed a very common scam and the scammer involved in this might not be even pregnant. Sometimes, in an indecisive moment, pregnant women or their friends talk to parents who are interested in adoption and take money from them. They do this with various families and collect money from all of them in the greed of getting more. In the end, the parents who are interested in adoption realize that they were scammed when the woman changes her decision. Sometimes, women involved in such scams may not even be pregnant. They will just pretend to be pregnant and deceive innocent parents or couples. - The one not for you:
Many times, parents interested in adoptions have certain expectations about the baby they want regarding their age, race, health, etc. In the hope of getting extra money in return for fooling these people, adoption agencies often give them false promises of having a baby that meets their expectations. These agencies then ask for money under various names for the baby and keep stalling them. In some situations, these adoptive agencies may also ask for extra money to get the baby faster.
How to Avoid the Adoption Scams?
- You must always ask for a valid proof of the existence of the baby before giving money to adoption agencies.
- You must never give money directly to pregnant women. Instead, you can give the money for the facilities that she is accessing.
- You must never trust an agency that gives you a period to find the baby you want. No adoption agency can tell the future or change time, it is all a scam.
- You must make sure that the baby is healthy or ask for their health records from the adoption agency well before the adoption takes place.