Buckeye Puppy Classified Ad A Probable Scam

An advertisement that appeared in this newspaper offering free Maltese puppies is probably a scam.

When a Buckeye reader, Carrie Ordway, of Archbold, responded to the classified ad, she was asked to send $200 to Nigeria.

Mary Huber, advertising director and assistant general manager of the Buckeye, said the ad was placed via telephone, using a credit card for payment. The ad appeared in the Jan. 16 edition.

Later, when the newspaper staff attempted to process the credit card payment, the card company declined the sale.

The person placing the ad gave a name, an address in Barberton, Ohio, and phone number.

The Barberton address is a lawyer's office and tax service.

The phone number was traced to Seattle, Wash. Calls to the number were answered by a machine; there was no return call.

Something Fishy

Carrie Ordway, Archbold, said, "Actually, I thought something was fishy even before" she responded to the advertisement.

"I asked my husband, 'could this be terrorists?' I was partly joking."

Nevertheless, she sent an email asking about the puppies.

The first email she received was written in broken English, stating that the person offering the puppies was a missionary in West Africa.

The writer said the dogs would grow to 50-55 pounds. The American Kennel Club website said Maltese are five to seven pounds.

"I was wary, right from the point when they said they were in West Africa," Ordway said.

Ordway received another email, asking her to send $200 to ship a puppy to her. The money was to be sent by Moneygram International to Lagos, Nigeria.

"When they said they wanted $200, I said, 'yeah - no thanks,'" Ordway said.

Investigation

Huber reported the case to the Archbold Police Department and the Ohio Newspaper Association.

Thom Ross, Archbold Police assistant chief, said the case is under investigation.

He is confident the "free puppies" offer is a scam.

"A lot of scams are now coming out of Africa," he said.

Huber said, "Many unscrupulous people attempt to use newspaper classifieds to conduct scams. We do our best to catch them, but this one got through.

"We can't say for sure that this is a scam, but anytime a person is instructed to send money, extreme caution should be used."

"Usually such scams are sent through the mail, email, or by fax. This is the first time we know of that a person who says they're from a community in Ohio has called us and placed an ad over the phone that turns out to be suspect," she said.- David Pugh