Email scammer targets pet owner

A Leamington woman has told of how she was unsuccesfully targeted by an internet scammer after she launched an appeal for her family’s missing dog online.
Jake the Beagle who has been missing since DecemberJake the Beagle who has been missing since December
Jake the Beagle who has been missing since December

Linda Lissaman, 53, was contacted by email after she had posted the details of three-year-old pet Beagle Jake on a number of missing dog websites.

But the person who contacted her falsely claimed they had found Jake and then attempted to get Mrs Lissaman to send them £210 to cover the costs of looking after him and bringing him home and when she demanded to have the dog handed over to her before any money changed hands the scammer said they would poison him.

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The scammer said: “I am afraid I can only collect the money via PayPal or I poison the beagle bye.”

A later email to Mrs Lissaman then said: “Since I don’t hear from you and the beagle food is too expensive and I don’t think I can bear it anymore maybe I will kill him or I should drop him inside a river close to my house here cus am travel today.”

Mrs Lissaman has contacted the police about the emails but, altough they told her the sender could be prosecuted for sending a malicious communication, the source of the messages was traced to Kenya.

Loving and loveable Jake, whose chocolate tri-coloured fur is unusual in the UK, has been missing since December 27.

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He was being walked at Berkswell Greenway near the railway station in Berkswell when he ran off to chase after a fox.

He was last spotted in Ryton in January.

He could be anywhere within a 30-mnile radius of where he first went missing.

If you spot Jake call 07817 767115 or go to the Facebook group ‘Search continues for Jake the beagle’.

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