THE dangers of buying goods on the Internet had a costly outcome for a Richards Bay woman who had hoped to get a beautiful puppy for her family.
The woman, who was taken hook, online and sinker by a trio of smooth-talking con artists, ended up paying R45 000 into a temporary bank account – for an imaginary dog.
The scam started on 4 July when she answered an advert offering a cute, white West Highland Terrier for R3 500, complete with the pedigree registration documents.
At no added cost, ‘Marlene’ would arrange transport of the eight-week-old pup by air to Richards Bay on Friday, 8 July.
The trap was set, and she and two male cronies soon began playing the Richards Bay client like a new tune on an old fiddle.
‘They really put on a show, getting us all excited about this wonderful pet my 12-year-old daughter would come to adore – and not be allergic to,’ said the buyer.
But the price was about to go up in increments on delivery day.
At 7.30am she was told they were on the way to Kimberley airport, but R5 500 (‘refundable’) was need for food, injections and a special cage for transportation.
An hour later, it was R8 300 more for ‘pet insurance’.
All that was needed now was to collect the pup.
However, at 6pm there was another call, this time from ‘Animal Movers’, requiring another ‘refundable’ R15 000 for a special clearance certificate at Richards Bay airport.
And so, filled with anticipation, she arrived at the terminal.
No plane arrived that night. Nor, obviously, did the dog.
Cheated, embarrassed and angry, there is no recovering the money that landed in someone else’s bank account – which was closed quicker than a greyhound’s sprint.
Armed now with a police case number, a hard lesson has been learned.
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