Google Sues to Stop Puppy Scammer From Targeting Consumers
If you’re looking to add a furry friend to your family, watch out for scams. A network of puppy-selling websites has been stealing money from older Americans who are in the market for a dog, according to Google.
The search giant is now suing the owner of the puppy-selling websites for allegedly abusing Google services to target and manipulate unsuspecting victims into handing over their cash.
“Defendant has used several Google services, such as Gmail and Google Voice, via dozens of fraudulent Google accounts, to communicate false promises to victims, register the fraudulent websites with US internet hosting companies, and request and receive payments, all in violation of Google’s Terms of Service,” the company said in the lawsuit.
Google learned of the scam last September through a complaint from AARP, a nonprofit group focused on Americans 50 years and older. A victim in South Carolina looking to buy a puppy encountered one of the scam websites at familyhomebassetthounds[.]com, which used Gmail and Google Voice accounts to correspond with potential buyers.
The victim was told to pay $700 in digital gift cards if they wanted to own a Basset Hound puppy. But after doing so, they were told they had to pay another $1,500 for the delivery costs. In the end, the victim never received the dog.
In response, Google began investigating and identified the online accounts the scammer was using to correspond with victims. This revealed some of the accounts were registered with a variation of the name “Nche Noel Ntse.”
“One of the oldest accounts, [email protected][.]com, was created in September 2013 from an IP address in Cameroon and has a phone number with the country code for Cameroon,” the company notes in the lawsuit.
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