By Matt Fredmonsky
Record-Courier staff writer
Tammy Brode thought she had found a great deal.
The disabled Rootstown resident was scrolling the Internet looking for a small, female Chihuahua.
Bingo.
She found an ad on a local publication's online classified section. Brode wrote the seller. She was excited at the prospect she could be getting another Chihuahua.
The deal seemed too good to be true.
"I know at first I fell for it," Brode said. "But do you know how many people are out there who will think, "Oh my God, for $100 I can get a dog!'"
Brode came very close to falling victim to a widespread Internet puppy scam.
She sent an e-mail in response to an ad asking questions about a Chihuahua. She received an e-mail from someone claiming to be working long hours as a missionary in the West African nation of Cameroon who did not have time to care for the dog.
"We only corresponded through e-mail," Brode said, because the phone numbers she was given were not connected.
Her response was slow because she has fibromyalgia and frequent numbing in her arms and legs, which makes it difficult for her to sit at a computer for long periods of time or even walk. But she reached a deal with one person -- $80 to cover shipping costs for the dog.
"Had I been a regular person and not been acting so slow, you bet I would've sent $80," Brode said.
She had responded to several ads online, but some of the responses were questionable. Most of the responders' e-mails focused on getting Brode to wire money and said little about the dog as the scam progressed. Her suspicions eventually led her to back out of the deal.
In 2006 online thieves scammed approximately $198 million out of the pockets of unsuspecting web surfers worldwide, according to a report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center. The center, which is a joint venture between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center, provides victims with the ability to report and give information on scams. The center tracks information provided by victims and, when possible, passes the relevant information on to state, federal and international law enforcement agencies.
Countless Web sites and posts online tell a story similar to Brode's, but many of those people were not as fortunate.
In 2006 the owners of Puppyfind.com, a popular online marketplace for dogs of all breeds, came under fire because scammers were posting ads on the site. The site was forced to block users with overseas e-mail addresses and partnered with an escrow service to try and eliminate illegitimate ads.
Many of the scam stories found online are very similar to the one that reeled in Brode.
Some Web sites, like TerrificPets.com, are tracking and identifying puppy scammers who have advertised on their site. The forum has 24 pages listing scammers who have been caught on the site. The forum offers three ways to identify a scammer.
* The scammer doesn't care about the pet, just the transaction
* The scammer states he or she will find a shipper
* Ninety-five percent of scammers are from overseas countries such as Nigeria, South Africa and Cameroon
Brode said she has called area breeders and buyers to warn them of the scams.
"When we have a community that loves dogs, and people are preying on them like that ... people will spend $80 on a dog because they need a little bit of joy or happiness."