Nigerian puppy scam has victims howling

Put together Nigerian money scams and adorable puppies in the same newspaper column and what do you get?

Lots of e-mails.

Some were angry that the scam is going on, others had their own stories to tell.

And some were just sad.

"I think this scam is happening to me," Hanriet Pari of Glendale wrote.

The scam, as outlined in The Times on Tuesday, lures victims with online ads featuring pictures of achingly cute, English bulldog puppies that somehow got stuck in West Africa and are in need of good homes.

The puppies are free, but anyone who responds soon finds out there are shipping fees. And if those are paid, money is needed for customs. Then shots. Then whatever else occurs to the scammer, who usually is based in what has become the international online-scam capital: Nigeria.

"I have sent $250 for the dog to be shipped to me," Pari wrote, "and then $525 for insurance and other things, and now they want $140 for a health thing.

"Please help me."

The only help that could be offered was to advise her to \o7not\f7 send any more money. There are no puppies coming. Ever.

Even the pictures are part of the scam -- they are usually lifted from legitimate websites.

One question Pari posed could be answered emphatically:

"Is there any way of getting my money back?"

No.

Dan Landis, a cargo agent for Delta Air Lines in Seattle, has seen the end result of the scam.

"I have had to deal with this several times recently," he wrote.

People arrive at the airport to pick up their new dog and instead go from "cargo warehouse to cargo warehouse trying to find out if their puppy is there."

In the end, there is only "a lot of tears."

Lacie Thompson in Ventura was lured by an ad for a puppy available for a $150 "adoption fee" plus $80 shipping. It was being offered by a woman named Ashley who said she had traveled from Fresno to Cameroon and now had to find the puppy a home.

"Is she not your dream baby???" Ashley wrote to Thompson.

It was a common thread. The scammers, whose messages are so similar they all seem to be working from the same script, invariably refer to a puppy as "baby."

And besides the major cute factor, there is the matter of getting a bargain. Highly prized English bulldog puppies, with pure-breed certification papers (and, of course, all the advertised puppies have them) can go for more than $3,000 apiece from a legitimate breeder.