What next, organs?

Feb 14, 2008 20:11 GMT  ·  By

A canine companion is something many people wanted for as long as they can remember, but because of parenting issues or space restrictions were never able to acquire one. The market being incredibly open because of the Internet options that have been added progressively, it was the perfect means for Mary Ann Alfaro to fulfill her daughter's wish and surprise her fianc? with an English bulldog.

For $800 it looked like a bargain, so she immediately began planning it. The fianc? was set to return from Iraq shortly, so she hurried to contact the Florida seller. All details being nailed down, the woman sent him the money and waited at the airport for the puppy to arrive. It never did. "He said he had some problems but that he would send her the puppies but he never did. Then he said he would return the money," Alfaro told KGBT4. Much to people's surprise (not), the seller stopped answering her phone calls.

In her hurry to get the English bulldog, she thought she'd deal with this later, as the arrival day for her soon-to-be son in law neared. She contacted another person, in Dallas this time, who said he'd help her with her problem. "We told him about the scam. He says I'm not. I'm a puppy breeder. I'm in Dallas. All you have to do is give me a down payment." I guess gullibility is never treatable, because she sent the seller $200 and once again waited at the airport only to find out that once again it was a scam.

Finally, she turned to the FBI, but was surprised to find out that the recuperation rate for such Internet transactions that turn out to be less than dreamy is very low. "The old adage of buyer beware applies extremely on the internet because you are going into a vast open anonymous room. You don't know anybody for sure," agent Erik Vasys says.

Online scams are being reported all over the world and they're so various in object and proportion that one might never know what to expect. Be it that you're paying $800 for a puppy, or $50 for a copy of a rare game, you can always find yourself in Alfaro's position.