Cynthia Alvarez of San Jose, Calif., thought when she wired $1,000 to a dog breeder online in the hope of surprising her husband, Julio, with the pup on Christmas morning.
Instead, the breeder, who called himself Dr. Don Anderson, demanded Alvarez wire more and more money to his accountant in Ashtabula, to cover the dog's travel expenses, food and paper-work.
Alvarez sent the money, but Christmas came and went. And just when Alvarez realized she had been cheated out of $1,600, the breeder disappeared.
Alvarez fell victim to the "puppy scam," one of the newest tricks in the book among Internet scam artists, said Sue McConnell, public relations director for the Better Business Bureau of Cleveland.
Victims are lured to Web sites offering rare dog breeds at affordable prices. Photos and text are often stolen from Web sites of legitimate breeders, McConnell said.
The puppy purchaser is told to wire payment in advance, and the seller continues soliciting money until the buyer gives up. By then, however, the money is irretrievable.
As for Dr. Anderson, the bureau suspects the name is fictitious and the people soliciting the money can't be traced to Ashtabula and probably operate outside the United States.
Funds wired through Moneygram, which Alvarez used, can be picked up at any authorized location worldwide, though the company will soon change its policy to require senders to specify a country if the money is sent outside the United States, said Moneygram spokeswoman Cathy Rebuffoni.
source :
cleveland.com: Everything Cleveland