Watchdog - Pet Air

Helen was left heart-broken and out of pocket after finding out a puppy she thought she was adopting didn't actually exist.

We've been contacted by a number of people to tell us how their quest to find the perfect pet online has not only left them out of pocket - but in some cases broken-hearted.

Watchdog met Helen Ayliffe, who'd been looking for a Great Dane puppy for some time, but had always found them too expensive, at upwards of £600. But when searching a classified ads website in October 2008, she was delighted to find three Great Dane puppies up for adoption, for free, because their owner Victoria said she could no longer look after them.

The fact they were living hundreds of miles away in Aberdeen meant that Helen couldn't see her puppy first, but as she wasn't going to have to pay anything for the dog, felt there was no reason not to go ahead.

Helen told us: "Victoria said she would organise for the puppy to fly down from Aberdeen airport. I would have to pay the £130 that the pet courier company were charging, but as I wasn't actually paying for the dog, I didn't have a problem with it."

Having problems

On the day of the arranged delivery, Victoria emailed Helen to say that the delivery company she was using was having some problems with its bank account in the UK. Helen would need to pay the £130 direct to Pet Air Animal Moving Services British Cameroon using Western Union, to a man named Stanley Kum. It was made very clear that she would have to pay the money immediately, if she wanted to receive her puppy that day.

She says: "I thought it was a bit strange that the company's base was in Cameroon, but as I truly believed my dog was waiting at the airport to be flown down to me, I went ahead and sent the money."

Shortly after doing this, Helen was contacted again by the delivery company to say that there was a problem with the crate Victoria had originally organised for the dog to be transported in. A different one would have to be rented at a cost of £500, which Helen must pay immediately in order to move the puppy.

Helen was now very suspicious, but had grown so emotionally attached to the puppy that she would have paid the £500 had her friend not stopped her.

Faking it

The fact is, the puppy never existed; it was all part of a scam which sees fake adverts placed on websites in order to attract animal lovers to cheap pets for sale - usually pedigree dogs at bargain prices. Once involved, fake pet courier companies then contact their victims for money, by effectively emotionally blackmailing people into thinking their pet will be left stranded on the side of a runway if they don't pay up.

In most cases, payment requests are around £100 initially, but these can escalate if the victim is prepared, or pressured, into paying more.

Warning signs

There are plenty of websites hosting classified adverts, and while it's difficult to stop people advertising bogus items for sale, it's much easier to spot the dodgy ads and avoid them like the plague.

The key factors to look out for in these cases are:

• Pedigree puppies being given away for free
• Sob stories to explain why they can no longer keep them
• They live nowhere near your local area



Similar scams

IPATA International is an organisation for professional pet shippers. They are aware of these scams and provide information on their website for pet owners, including how to check a pet courier company is legitimate.

Scambusters at Consumer Direct has also seen similar scams before. They told Watchdog: "This is yet another recycled advanced-fee scam which we see a lot of. Cars, lottery wins inheritance - and now pets.

"We are intelligence led and have not come across this as yet - but the more information we get from victims that can point us in the right direction, the more resources we will allocate to go after these people. Our advice is always that prevention is better than cure."

If you have had a similar experience visit the Consumer Direct website or call them on 08454 040506.