Correction - the value of a pure-bred English Bull-dog, according to a breeder, would be closer to $3,000.00
We've had an interesting day. When I got home from work, there were 20 messages on our phone.
When you're down four months on your mortgage, that could mean down-market unsolicited offers on your house...
But, this was something differnce. This was a scam of a different order.
The ad ran in the local paper as follows: "English Bull Dog, Male, 10lbs, 12 weeks old, shots, $600.00: and the web site address of techie.dot com with a follow of FRA-our name" and our home phone number.
We don't have a puppy, English Bull-Dog or otherwise. Our name was taken out of the phone book, complete with first and last names. The second of third persons we called back (out of 20 messages) said that this is a scam. An offer too good to be true - a pure-bred English bull dog could go for as much as $600.00 (according to people who know way more about than me, because I've got pound pups of very uncertain heritage). Caller Number Two said that he'd gotten involved with a collectible car with the same general outlines.
These people publish an ad too good to be true, with a bad phone number and list a web site. They are trying to drive traffic to the web site, where they will try to collect personal information, like SS#, address, blah 3.
My husband, a criminal defense attorney, spent the evening on the phone. Calling people who had left a message with their phone number - saying, don't use the web site, don't expect a puppy...it's a scam.
We'll be calling the paper, the local DA Fraud Unit and any one else we can think of tomorrow, first item of business.
Be careful out there...this is the second scam of the day. The first was guys calling from jail (see above reference to CDA husband). They access your business voice mail, enter "star something or other" according to the deputy and get a line out. Pretty valuable stuff in jail...