POLICE have arrested and charged a Blairgowrie woman who allegedly posed online as a dog breeder and tricked potential buyers into believing they were about to take ownership of French and English bulldog pups.
The 42-year-old woman, arrested Thursday 26 August, is alleged to have fleeced six unwitting buyers of a combined $46,000 over the past 15 months.
Detective Senior Sergeant Eddie Lagoner, of Somerville CIU, said the woman had been charged with five counts of deception and bailed to appear at Dromana Magistrates’ Court in February.
The bogus online “sale” of the pups was exacerbated by lockdown restrictions making it harder for the potential buyers to visit them.
Detective Lagoner said no actual dogs were involved in what was described as a “sophisticated deception involving extensive emails, correspondence and images between the parties”.
“The people thought they were getting a dog when there wasn’t one,” he said.
First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 31 August 2021
