A 26-year-old Linden woman reported to police that she was scammed out of $1,300 after she tried to purchase a dog from an online site.
The victim told police that she found a dog that she wanted to purchase on the online marketplace website www.oodle.com.
According to the woman, she contacted the seller on April 2nd and was told to wire $500 for the dog to an individual in Baltimore, Maryland, via MoneyGram.
The seller then asked her for an additional $500 for shipping costs, in which she wired through Western Union.
The following day, the seller again contacted her and told her he needed an additional $300 for insurance purposes, and if she didn’t send the money, she would be “breaking the law”. The victim then wired the $300 and didn’t hear anything.
She then read some reviews on the website and saw that this was a common scam.
The website does offer Safety Tips and advises visitors on the site not to wire any money to an unknown seller, and in the case of a pet sale, to meet the seller and animal in person.
The incident remains under investigation.