People Cautioned About Online Pet Selling Scam

The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is asking netizens to look out for a scam e-mail that offers puppies free of cost, provided the buyer bears the pet's transportation expense. However, even after bearing the expense, no puppy ever arrives.

The animal welfare charity, which has got reports about this as well as other types of puppy frauds, is alarming the public to take extra caution when acquiring a pet.

In Scotland, a number of posters on the Internet presenting notices about Bassett Hounds and Yorkshire Terriers (dog breeds) searching new homes has been found. These notices were uploaded on the Sheffield page of the well-known advertising website Gumtree. However, the charges are ranged £150-£200 as 'relocation fees' since the pets would be transported to their new owners from Scotland. Surprisingly, in spite of having so large geographical distance, the advertisement of the puppies was only on the Leeds and Sheffield networks.

One lady, who responded to few posts that advertised the free puppies, became skeptical when she got identical responses from each of the three sellers she contacted, but their e-mail addresses and names were different.

All the three dog sellers in their replies claimed that they were forced to shift to a new home in Dundee following the murder of their wives by an intoxicated driver and this made them to find a new master for their pet. All the three replies said the same thing can't be a coincidence.

Moreover, since the messages giving the same reason for selling the pets, it was all clear that their author was the same individual. All the three messages said that the dog is 'one of the babies' of the sender who prays that the puppy's new master would love and take care of it just as his deceased wife did.

Security experts warned that puppy scams are running across and beyond the country and users might not know how abundant they are. This scam clearly indicates that it is meant to make money.

Similarly, AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association) warned people about the e-mail scam targeting people searching for pets. The hoax mail could cost them hundreds of dollars.

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» SPAMfighter News - 1/28/2009