CONNING DOG LOVERS

HEARTLESS scammers have been posing online as a dog rescue centre in order to con animal lovers out of thousands of pounds. The fraudsters set up a fake Facebook site claiming to be Hope Rescue – a small charity in Llanharan, near Llantrisant – in an attempt to get families to “adopt” non-existent puppies for £1,000 each.

The ruse was eventually rumbled and reported to the police, but not before some had already handed over hefty deposits to secure the dog of their dreams.

“It’s a horrible thing to do to anyone,” said Vanessa Waddon, founder of Hope Rescue, which takes in a quarter of all strays in Wales.

“Three individuals who had been scammed reported it to us, plus we had others ringing us to check if it was legitimate. The scammer asked one person for a bank transfer of £300 before he’d deliver the puppy.”

She added that the centre still has no idea how many people responded to the adverts, among which was the bogus offer of a 10-week-old French Bulldog called Ruby.

“We reported it to the police initially, and advised the victims to as well.

“Since then the Hope Rescue Facebook page has been given a blue tick to verify it as genuine, so as to ensure this kind of thing can’t happen again.”

A spokesperson for South Wales Police said: “This incident will have been referred to Action Fraud – the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime. Action Fraud will carry out any initial inquiries and refer the matter back to us for further investigations if required.”

The alert from the charity comes just weeks after it raised separate concerns that more and more sick and unwanted dogs are being passed off as “fake strays” and dumped at animal shelters.

Dismayed volunteers at Hope Rescue said that, rather than sign up to the long waiting lists in place for people wanting to surrender their pets responsibly, some callous owners are bypassing the system by handing over their animals under the pretence they were found roaming.

The massively over-subscribed centre is then legally obliged to take in the dogs – the sheer intake of which means some owners on the rehoming list are resorting to putting pets to sleep unnecessarily at the vets.

The problem has been exacerbated with the easing of Covid restrictions, with families who’d previously bought four-legged companions while working from home now struggling to look after them as the world gradually opens back up.

As previously reported, recent examples include a dog whose neurological issues have left her incontinent and unable to walk properly, along with a tiny pet which someone claimed had been found lost up a mountain. However, its deformed legs probably meant it could have never walked such a distance.

Similarly, one underweight dog was discovered to have eaten a tea towel, causing damage to his internal organs. But, instead of paying the £3,000 medical bill, its owners let it suffer for weeks before passing it off as a stray.

As a result, Hope Rescue’s vet fees hit around a staggering £200,000 in 2021.