Oct 5 2008 Additional Reporting By Jane Barrie

MUM Gillian Mchendry thought her luck was in when she spotted an advert offering a puppy free to a good home.

But the dealer scammed £1800 from her then failed to deliver the Cavalier King Charles spaniel, for her gutted children Caitlin, eight, and Ben, three.

Heclaimed to be in Dundee but turned out to be a conman from Cameroon.

Gillian, 26, of Kilmarnock, said: "I have been to the police and the Serious Organised Crime Agency.

This has crippled us. We are struggling to pay the mortgage."

The Mchendrys are the latest victims of a global puppy scam which is rife on the internet.

Fraudsters from Africa place the ads, claiming to live locally, then demand cash then cut off contact.

Gillian and husband Steven, 29, had spotted the advert offering a free spaniel on ukclassifieds.co.uk a fortnight ago.

She said: "I emailed the breeder, who gave his name as Moore Wilson. He offered to arrange delivery to Kilmarnock."

Gillian and Steven, an assistant manager in a sports shop, sent £200 via Moneygram at a Post Office to a Roger Juse in Cameroon..

Gillian said: "Wilson said it was an international firm. The lady in the Post Office was suspicious but we were excited about the pup."

Then Wilson wanted £380 for a delivery cart, which the Mchendrys sent by Moneygram to a Roland Neba in Cameroon.

Gillian said: "It was to be refunded when the dog arrived."

Wilson then demanded £400 for a pet permit, £175 for a vaccination card, £480 for insurance and £200 for food and vet bills.

Housewife Gillian said: "He said the dog would be with us at 9am on Saturday. We'd bought a bed, toys and food."

But when there was no sign of the puppy by 9.30am she phoned Wilson and the penny dropped.

Gillian said: "He wanted another £200 for microchipping.

"He said if I didn't pay the pup would be put into quarantine. Yet it was only coming from Dundee."

Gillian called in the police.

She said: "The kids are devastated. Now we can't afford a pup."

I got on toUK Classifieds, based in Perth, Australia, and owned and run by Spencer Culpin.

He said: "I am sorry to hear about this. I run UK Classifieds on my own and try to stop fraudsters by banning IP addresses from known scammers and countries like Cameroon and Nigeria.

"But they use free proxy servers to hide their location."

The Serious Organised Crime Agency said: "People involved in puppy scams target the less well off and the vulnerable. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is."

Don't let conmen sell you a pup chances are, it doesn't exist.

£1800 victims of African dog dealers - The Sunday Mail

Its always very sad to hear about scams like this , but it comes back to the "see puppy and parents" before you buy.hobo

Unfortunately scams like this aren't uncommon, I get one or two a day usually, people selling puppies (that don't really exist).

Check Welcome to the 419 Eater for more details on scammers

Horrible to hear someone losing their money but I cannot believe people still fall for these scams.

Not sure why. I've read stories about supposedly well educated people (doctors, lawyers etc) falling for scams. Maybe not the puppy scam, but other similar ones.

It's more common than you may think, with many victims afraid to speak out because of shame.

As I run Pets4Homes, Im all to familar with these scams. We get at least 50 scam adverts each day, but as I check each one manually before approving them, I can usually spot the fake ones quite easily.

The only way not to be scammed is to only buy a pet after visiting it at its home and only put a deposit on a dog that you have seen. Never send any money over the internet ever. If you see an advert for a dog that is to cheap to be true, then it is probably not true.

Thanks
Mark

__________________

Free Pet Advertising in the UK at Pets4Homes
Dogs - Puppies - Pets - Cats - Kittens for Sale

feel so sorry for them, but surely alarm bells should of rang the moment they started asking for money..

then again, some people hnestly beleve these gits poor souls.

People fall for it because the scammers offer expensive breeds such as Bulldogs, Maltese, Chihuahuas etc and offer them for £100 - £200 and use cute photos. These type of adverts should start alarm bells ringing. Its not just pet sites that these scammers target, its every type of classifieds, especially cars. If you look on autotrader, you will see new BMW's offered for sale at £2000 etc....

The only way to be totally safe is never to part with your money over the internet, no matter how tempting the offer may sound. The websites they ask for money to be paid via money gram and western union cannot be traced either. If you send money using these websites, there is no way the police or the websites themseleves can find out where the money has gone.

Mark

__________________

Free Pet Advertising in the UK at Pets4Homes
Dogs - Puppies - Pets - Cats - Kittens for Sale