A BUNDOORA woman who escaped being bitten by a dog scam has warned others not to take the bait.
She counts herself lucky as Consumer Affairs Victoria has had 28 complaints from people who lost thousands of dollars on dodgy dog deals in the past year.
The scammers advertise free dogs, ranging from Yorkshire terriers and pugs to rottweilers and St Bernards, then trick victims into handing over money for “shipping costs”. The dogs never arrive.
A CAV spokeswoman said one victim lost $11,000 on two rottweilers that did not exist, while others paid $1050 for a Yorkshire terrier, $680 for a pug and $200 for a Siberian husky.
The Bundoora woman, who does not want to be named, responded to a country newspaper advertisement that offered free Yorkshire puppies.
She began to suspect something was amiss when there was no contact number, only an email address, and became concerned when she received an email written in poor English.
“Why would a couple supposedly in the United Kingdom offer dogs to Australians?” she said.
“The couple claimed to be missionaries with three children, who had limited income; it was to get the sympathy vote.”
The woman also noticed inconsistencies in the couple’s story.
“They claimed to be in the United Kingdom where it’s winter but then referred to being concerned about the effect of the heat on the puppies,” she said. She said the fraudsters emailed photographs of the puppies but she did not open them in case of computer viruses.
“No doubt they would have been cute, but would they have been real?”
The scammers said: “We don’t have big money here yet as we are on a Missionary mission and we have to limit our spending for now and, not Until we get paid. Thank you and Remain Bless.”
The CAV spokeswoman said people should “be wary of buying a pet without seeing, or wiring cash to an online seller they don’t know”.
“Once your money has left the country, it’s very unlikely that it will be recovered.”
