“Puppies for sale” scam targets Orkney

The OIC’s trading standards team  received more than ten queries or complaints in 2011 from people who had seen adverts for puppies allegedly offered for sale from addresses in Kirkwall.

Trading standards manager Gary Foubister said: “In some cases, people had unfortunately paid considerable sums for non-existent puppies and only came to us when they were asked to pay additional amounts for transport or other ancillary costs.

“The addresses tend to be actual Kirkwall addresses but the purported seller’s details are fictional. In the cases we have investigated, the adverts’ true origins have been in Africa, normally Cameroon.”

The team has contacted a number of websites and asked for adverts of this kind to be removed.

“If people have paid by credit card then they can reclaim the money from their credit card company,” Mr Foubister added.

“But unfortunately this does not tend to be the payment method in this scam, with Moneygram or similar payment method being the preferred option, as it is easily transferred abroad.”