Yzabelle Bostyn
THREE victims of an alleged dog scammer have called for action after their ‘dreams’ were shattered by a popular breeder.
Kim Holmes had always hoped to expand her kennel and breeding business by bringing ‘exotic’ micro bullies to Australia.
The single mum of two thought her prayers were answered when she found Mino Kerouani on Youtube.
He claimed to be ‘the best breeder in the world’, so she contacted him on Instagram, excited to start her own line of bullies on the Central Coast.
She paid thousands for the dog, but her dream quickly turned into a nightmare.
“I realised something was wrong when he wouldn’t do any of the paperwork,” she claims.
“He was just refusing to do what he was meant to. He filled the forms wrong every time and he was getting more and more money out of me.”
With each failed attempt, Kim paid more, amounting to an astonishing 41,000 Aus dollars ( €25,000).
Kim alleges the breeder, who has some 16,000 followers on social media, failed to do essential health checks such as rabies testing, that the microchip implanted was not for the correct dog and birth dates didn’t match up to her passport.
All of this, she claims, caught the attention of Australian authorities, who banned any dog under Mino’s name from entering the country.
Now, Kim believes Mino ‘never’ meant for her to get her dog.
Hopes shattered, she said: “When he knew that I realised he was scamming me, he didn’t want anything to do with the dog. He tried to get me to get me to pay more.
“When I refused he told me to ‘get the dog out of the country’, because he refused to pay for boarding.”
The kennel owner paid some £8000 to get her dog to the UK, where she also had to pay for expensive accommodation, amounting to some £10,000.
Eventually, a breeder who had also had problems when working with Mino agreed to take on Kim’s dog.
According to Kim, when the dog arrived in the UK it had ‘herpes’, ‘a 10 cm scar’ and ‘ducking syndrome’, a condition where dogs duck when a person holds out their hand, often indicating abuse.
Though safe in the UK, Kim doesn’t believe she will ever receive the dog she paid for.
“It was very stressful. I tried to stay calm through it but I’m embarrassed and I’m annoyed for my family that he’s done this to us,” she told the Olive Press.
“It’s always been a dream of mine. I’ve been dog breeding for seven years and, and I thought I could trust him. And unfortunately it didn’t go the right way. He shouldn’t be able to get away with it. He scams people for a living.”
The breeder who took on Kim’s dog, who did not wish to be named, also alleges he was scammed by Mino.
The Coventry based businessman says he bought two micro bully siblings from Kerouani for €15,000 but claims that when they arrived, they were different breeds.
He said: “There’s no way they were siblings. They looked very different. One was a micro bully, the other was a pocket, so there’s a big price difference. They’re worth about €2000 and I paid €9000 for a micro back then.”
Allegedly, Mino convinced the breeder he would ‘get his money back’ when the dogs started producing puppies, so he flew out to Barcelona to start the insemination process.
Despite three ‘stud services’ worth €3000 each, the dog never got pregnant.
Normally, this would be grounds for a refund on the basis that the promised service was not delivered.
But, the breeder claims Mino was ‘unlicensed’ and therefore managed to evade such guarantees, as well as ‘thousands in unpaid taxes’.
“He never wanted to own up to it and then he just disappeared,” he claimed.
“Mino sells his females for quite a bit of money and he doesn’t want them to get pregnant so he can stay on top of the breeding game himself.”
After the failed breeding attempts, flights to Barcelona, where Mino is reportedly based, and stud fees, he says he lost over €9000.
He also claims he lost €50-60,000 euros as he wasn’t able to produce a valuable litter.
The UK based breeder said: “If it was the right dog it would have been even more on top of that.”
Another alleged victim, Fabio Bloks, claims Mino ‘scammed’ him out of €17,000.
The owner of Soul Mates Bullies breeding, says he bought an XL bully from breeders in America and paid Kerouani to ship it to his home in the Netherlands.
However, according to Fabio, Mino claimed his dog was ‘stolen’ along the way.
He said: “Mino wanted me to be ok with the fact that the dog was stolen and keep my money.”
A few weeks later, Fabio claims he was contacted out of the blue by a French breeding business.
They alleged Mino owed them €35,000.
According to Fabio, the group went to New York in search of justice, where they saw ‘dead dogs in bags’, ‘XL bullies in tiny cages with no food or drink’ and ‘dogs covered in faeces’.
After successfully taking several dogs from New York, the French breeders contacted Fabio.
By this time, Fabio says Mino had returned some €4,000 of his original €17,000 payment.
He claims he used this money to thank the breeders when they gave him his dog at a meeting in Paris.
Although Fabio eventually got his dog, named Kash, he alleges Mino knew it had not been stolen.
He claims the Barcelona based breeder admitted he was going to use Kash’s papers to sell new dogs.
Allegedly, Mino made the confession during a video call with a US based kennel, an admission which got him banned from the United Kennel Club, a popular dog registry.
Fabio’s victory was short lived as Kash died just a year later of heatstroke.
He said: “Everyone works hard for their money and he takes it in five minutes. It’s impossible. It’s just plain stealing.
“I know some other victims who are too afraid to speak. But I’m not afraid of Mino. People like that need to be caught.”
The breeder, Mohamed Amine Kerouani, aka Mino, has a large following on social media, where he posts videos of himself going to pick up dogs all over the world including China, Japan and the Middle East.
When contacted by the Olive Press, he insisted he had given Fabio a ‘full refund’ of €5,000.
He also claimed Kim ‘got her dog safe and healthy in the UK’.
“If there was a mistake on the paperwork like she said, the dog would never have passed the UK-France border.”
