Wiener-Gate
A multi-brand online pet-purchase fraud network, documented as a criminal supply chain rather than a single suspect.
Never move a name from the victim column to the suspect column without new evidence
The reason is empirical rather than cautious: every displayed identity this investigation was able to check has turned out to be stolen or fabricated. Two were never resolved and stand as UNDETERMINED (3e, 3j) — the record does not place them on either side of the line, and neither does this page.
Five layers of displayed identity
| What the network displays | What checking found |
|---|---|
| Breeder photographs | Stolen from real breeders and rescues (A5b, H-1, H-3, H-4) |
| Customer testimonials | Fabricated personas reused across three domains (Q-5, S-3, U-7) |
| Executive roster of the shipping company | Four invented people, no photos, domain 15 years younger than the claimed founding (T-4) |
| Profile photo on the page that solicited a wire | A real image-theft victim’s likeness (Z-9, N-1) |
| Business phone numbers | Not clean operator identifiers. One runs an unrelated vertical, one reaches a private individual (V-5) |
Three people who lost money and came forward. All consented to attribution; version 1 does not use their names anyway. Pseudonymity is reversible on their say-so. Publication is not (Y-1, Y-6).
Legitimate breeders and rescues in the US and Australia whose photographs, names, or alt text appear in the fraudulent material. One notified, seven not — none named publicly for that reason (A5, Y-5).
Identities 3e and 3j were never resolved. UNDETERMINED is a status this record uses, not a placeholder for "probably guilty". Leaving them that way is the whole point of the page.
The consequence for a reader is direct: a name, a face, or a phone number attached to this operation is evidence of nothing until subscriber records say otherwise. Those questions can only be answered from inside a platform, a carrier, or a bank, under compulsory process (X-2).