Southern District Police are issuing a warning to the public to be careful when trying to buy pets online, after several victims have come forward after losing thousands of dollars to scammers.

The victims have contacted websites after seeing puppies advertised for sale. After obtaining account details and sending money to the website, no animal has arrived and refunds are promised but not returned to the victims.

At first look, the fraudulent websites appears legitimate with cute pictures of the puppies listed 'for sale' when in actual fact it is part of an elaborate and extremely well organised scam. The website’s name and domain may change, but the tactics remain largely the same.

These scammers play on people’s emotions as the puppies are cute and need rehoming, but in reality, they were never for sale to begin with.

Instead the money is kept by the scammers and the victims lose out both financially and emotionally.

Act with caution when buying online, especially if the seller makes it hard to see the animal in person. A common tactic is to portray that they are based in a remote location, too far for people to reasonably travel especially in the current Covid climate. They will often be advertised at an extremely competitive price.

South Australia Police recommend that you do your homework when buying online and do not simply rely on reviews or testimonials on the site itself.

Instead run the website’s address through a search engine and look further than the first page of results.

If you start seeing terms such as ‘scam’ and ‘fraud’ associated with the website, it should raise alarm bells.

Anyone who believes they may have been a victim of a scam should contact their local police station or the Police Assistance Line on 131444.

Find this story and more at www.fleurieunews.com.au