Scam Targets Consumers Searching for Puppies

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

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1/1/07 (KFSN) -- It is an old scam with a sneaky new twist. Nigerian criminals -- known for lottery scams -- are now using hard-to-resist puppies for sale.

Hanford mom Anjelica Garcia began her search for a Yorkshire Terrier online. It was for her daughters' Christmas present, after they lost their old pet. Anjelica answered an ad and exchanged e-mails with the seller. It sounded perfect.

But there was a slight problem. The seller says he's no longer living in the United States. The "Reverend Robert Greene" says he took the puppies with him to do missionary work in Nigeria.

"He was a servant of the Lord, so I trusted him," Garcia said.

So, Anjelica sent $600 to Nigeria. The money was picked up on the other end but the dogs never came. When she questioned the seller he had the nerve to ask her for even more money. That's when Anjelica got suspicious.

Doug Broten of the Better Business Bureau has seen many examples of this type of advance fee fraud.

"It's puppies today, it's something else tomorrow. Because the folks in Nigeria are working at this all day long to come up with little twists on how to get into our pockets," Broten said.

He says the people behind these scams do their research, looking for ways to get Americans to trust them. Unfortunately, because this crime happened outside the U.S., getting Anjelica's money back is virtually impossible.

"If you send your money to Nigeria or Canada or England, or anyplace. United States laws don't apply and your money is gone," Broten said.

Angelica wishes she knew that before she lost her money, but she wants others to know her story before it's too late for them too.

"I just don't want them to get hurt the way I did. I'm a middle class person so it was really hard for me to lose that much money at Christmas," Garcia said.

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