Vancouver Island woman loses thousands of dollars to puppy scam

Article content material

VICTORIA — Saanich police say a girl misplaced hundreds of {dollars} over the course of two weeks when she tried to purchase a pet from a web-based web site.

Article content material

The case started when she responded to an commercial Dec. 4 on Fb Market itemizing a Maltese pet on the market.

Article content material

The “vendor” advised her they have been from the US and directed her to a web site that had canines on the market, however that has since been taken down.

The “vendor” requested a cash order from the girl. As soon as they acquired it, nonetheless, they requested for added funds for things like pictures, licensing and registration, and warned the pet’s welfare could be in danger in the event that they didn’t obtain more cash.

The corporate doing the cash transfers warned the girl she was seemingly concerned with a fraudster, however when she talked about that to the “vendor”, they demanded that she ship them pay as you go Visa present playing cards.

She was advised to go a selected retailer and purchase a specific kind of card. They have been in packages that had already been tampered with and contained faux playing cards with altered barcodes. When the 15 playing cards have been loaded by the teller within the retailer, the cash was despatched on to the scammer.

Article content material

“These scammers usually resort to threats to defraud their victims of as a lot of their cash as attainable,” stated Const. Markus Ansatasiades. “We now have not too long ago began to see these altered present playing cards being reported to police, which demonstrates the extent at which these criminals will go to defraud most of the people.”

Police advocate that anybody trying to purchase a pet attempt to do it domestically by means of a good supplier who will be seen in particular person earlier than cash is exchanged.

Any vendor who points threats is probably going a fraudster, stated police, who suggested inspecting the barcodes of pay as you go present playing cards to find out if they’ve been tampered with. On this case, the precise card was changed with a clean card with a barcode sticker, police stated.

Extra information, fewer adverts: Our in-depth journalism is feasible due to the assist of our subscribers. For simply $3.50 per week, you may get limitless, ad-lite entry to The Vancouver Solar, The Province, Nationwide Submit and 13 different Canadian information websites. Assist us by subscribing in the present day: The Vancouver Solar | The Province.