Fraud on the Internet

I want to write about something that is of great concern. As you all know, my 18 year old son and his girlfriend have been selling their Pomeranian puppies. They advertised on the Internet and had many inquiries. Snowball sold earlier to a woman in California and seems to be settling in well.

Then they received an email from Iowa requesting that a puppy be held for them. Then they received the exact same email from another person wanting 2 puppies. When my son questioned them via email, he was told that it was a married couple and that the husband had decided he wanted a puppy, too. He was also told that they were deaf. Thus began a series of "relay calls" regarding the purchase. My son requested that they send a cashiers check. We have since learned that even these can be forged. You should ask that they use paypal, a US Postal Money order, or a Walmart Money Gram.

My son received a check that LOOKED like a cashiers check, but wasn't. It was written off of a California bank even though these people lived in the midwest. The kicker, though, was that it was written for $2000 more than it should have been. My son was also told that he didn't need to worry about shipping because they owned their own store and had a shipper who would pick up the puppies personally. When questioned via email, he was told that they were buying farm implements for the store and that the extra money was for the shipper. My son was given instructions to wire the money to the shipper at a different address.
My husband took the check to our local bank manager and was told that it was probably fraud. The bank deposited the check with a hold and we found out yesterday that it was indeed fraud. During the period of time while we waited for the check to clear, we were inundated with relay calls instructing my son to go ahead and follow the instructions. The last call before it cleared stated that he could just send 50% while he waited for it to clear. This morning the final call came in. When I told the relay operator to let him know that the check was no good, he disconnected the call.

It is a shame that someone like this can run a scam that makes Internet sites like puppyfind.com look bad. My son and his girlfriend could have lost the original amount of the check PLUS the amount that they would have wired the shipper--$5000! Thank goodness they trusted my husband and I to help them with the situation!

The lesson learned is that everyone should be safe rather than sorry. Use the payment options listed above. If someone sends more money or has a deal that seems too good to be true, then it probably is! I hope that someone else learns from reading this.....