Police in Winkler, Man., are asking residents to be extra cautious when buying goods online after three people were scammed out of hundreds of dollars when they each paid for a dog that never arrived.
All of the victims responded to online classified ads listing dogs for sale. After conversing with the seller, buyers were forced into paying extra fees for services like kennelling, shipping, insurance or excise taxes. If the buyers were to question the fees, the sellers forced them into paying by threatening lawsuits against them for abandoning the deal, or telling them they could be charged with animal cruelty for walking away from the sale.
In the end, none of the three victims received their dogs and were scammed out of between $400 and $1,000 each.
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