Oro Valley Police are warning the public about online puppy scams after they received two reports in the past week from two victims who say they were scammed after purchasing puppies from two different websites.
"The issue was two very similar schemes coming in on the same day which alerted us," said Lt. Curtiss Hicks with the Oro Valley Police Department.
Pat Cardosi, one of the victims, says she bought a Shih Tzu puppy named Jake online from a website Thursday.
Cardosi says he was scheduled to be delivered to her home Sunday, but he never came.
She said she paid about $650 for the puppy through the Western Union, and when the puppy never showed, she was asked for more money.
"I said, 'Where is the dog? You've got our money where is the dog?' He said 'Go to your folder on your computer' and he said, 'Just comply with what they want,'" she said. "He wanted another $1,050."
The paperwork shows the $1,050 fee was for insurance that stated it be paid through the Western Union or MoneyGram.
One breeder says they never use the Western Union or a MoneyGram and they typically use PayPal as a form of payment.
"We haven't located the location of these websites," said Lt. Curtiss Hicks. "In fact, the IP addresses are not very good so there are indications they are not within the country."
Lt. Hicks advises interested buyers to do research when purchasing online and look at the company's website reviews and for grammatical errors on the site.
One company said they hadn't made a recent sale in the past week, and the other stated in an email it did nothing wrong.
