Picture: Pixabay
Just before Christmas, we want to save you or your loved ones a lot of money and, above all, a huge amount of disappointment.
An Instagram and TikTok account called „capuchinmonkeybabiesforhome“ contacted us over the past few days and offered an 11-week-old macaque/capuchin monkey baby for „free adoption“. The supposed breeder claims to live in Warsaw, sends incredibly cute photos of a tiny monkey in diapers and with toys, and keeps writing things like „we are already family“, „you are now part of my family“, and „send the money very quick cus the baby needs you now“. Unfortunately, every single photo is stolen – we found the exact same pictures on a website that has been dead for two years.
At first he wanted the „shipping costs“ sent to a bank account in Cyprus, then to a Revolut account in Belgium (name: Nzonzi Ali), and finally only in Bitcoin „cus it is faster and safer“. He writes „cus“ instead of „because“ in almost every sentence – a dead giveaway for this type of scammer. When we asked for a video call or any real proof, we only got excuses and even more pressure: „Send now cus the baby is waiting.“
This is a 100 % classic Cameroonian monkey scam.
The scammers almost always sit in Yaoundé or Douala, use stolen photos, made-up European addresses (Warsaw today, Estonia tomorrow – whatever fits the conversation), and constantly switch between regular bank accounts and Bitcoin because cryptocurrency can never be reversed.
Once the money or BTC is gone, you will never hear from the monkey again – but you’ll definitely get new messages from fake pet-transport companies demanding more and more money for crates, vaccinations, customs, etc.
In Germany (and most European countries), keeping macaques or capuchin monkeys privately without a special permit is illegal anyway, and nobody who actually owns a real monkey begs strangers with „we are family“ and „send quick cus“ for Bitcoin.
Stay alert and don’t let yourself be fooled by cute photos – whether it’s monkeys, parrots, puppies, kittens, or anything else – fake closeness, and sudden Bitcoin demands.
