Dublin woman warns community about puppy scam

By Ashley Roberts
WSLS10 Reporter
Published: October 3, 2008

These days it’s hard to tell if an offer is the real deal or too good to be true.

10 on your side has reported on dozens of scams before, but today we want to warn you about a scam that will tug at your heart strings especially if you’re an animal lover.
 
Kathryn Cummings loves her dog Mya.
   
Lately she’s been thinking about adding to the family.

So…when she ran across an online ad in the Southwest Times for adopting teacup Yorkies she jumped at the opportunity. She says the online ad only listed an email address and no phone number. “When I emailed I asked if I could get them that day…if I could go pick them up after school and he said he couldn’t give them to me that day because he had just left for Africa and the puppies were with him,“ said Cummings.

Cummings says the person said he would ship the puppies to her through “diplomatic delivery service” at a cost. ...He wrote me back and said he could pay $350 of the cost of shipping, but that I would have to pay $600 to cover the rest and there were two of us interested in the dogs and we immediately said something wasn’t right, said Cummings.

Cummings said the guy she had been communicated with through email also called and threw on the charm.
   
While Cummings was talking, her friends were nearby researching the diplomatic courier service online and finding lots of warnings that they could get ripped off. “People reporting they’ve lost $500-$700 and got nothing for it.“

Southwest Times Publisher Mike Williams says when the classified manager took the order for the advertisement the caller never mentioned anything about africa and that everything seemed legit, but as soon as Cummings called saying it was scam, they pulled the ad from the website.

Cummings is just glad she figured out the ad wasn’t legit before it subtracted money from her wallet. “If you’re really looking for a dog just be really careful with what you’re looking for and where you’re looking.“

Julie Wheeler with the Better Business Bureau says animal scams have become more common over the last 18 months.         
   
She says if someone asks you to send money for a free pet, you are definitely being scammed.