The Financial Crime Unit of The Bermuda Police Service would like to remind members of the public to be vigilant when making any purchases using the internet.

In the past week the Service has received complaints from members of the public who appear to have been defrauded in such schemes. In two of these cases the victim responded to locally based internet adverts hoping to purchase a puppy from an overseas breeder. After contacting the breeder they were asked to send deposits overseas by money transfer. In previous reported cases the alleged breeder has then asked for further money to facilitate vet bills and transportation costs etc. Unfortunately the end result is that the money is stolen and no dog arrives in Bermuda.

We would ask that members of the public be extremely vigilant in responding to these types of internet adverts and be especially wary of responding to any person requesting monies who is using popular free e-mail addresses such as g-mail, yahoo, hotmail etc.

Many of the local websites carrying classified advertisements already display a warning message on their home page in relation to these types of scams.

If you have any questions regarding this matter, please feel free to contact the Financial Crime Unit on 295-0011 or e-mail fraud@bps.bm.