Craigslist ad showing puppies for sale in Sebastian and Vero Beach, Florida.

SEBASTIAN – If you’re looking to buy a cute puppy, you may not want to buy one from a Craigslist ad targeting Sebastian and Vero Beach buyers.

Last Thursday, a woman saw the ad and a picture of a cute puppy for sale. She called the number and was told to email the seller.

The buyer instructed the woman to pay for the puppy using a $200.00 eBay gift card. The seller told the woman the puppy would be shipped for free. The buyer followed the link and paid for the eBay card.

The seller then instructed the woman to pay another $200.00 for insurance for shipping the puppy on a flight. She became suspicious and then contacted the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies determined that the link where she paid for the gift card was a “spoofed” version of an eBay website.

Investigators are still following up on leads to the case.

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About Andy Hodges

Andy Hodges was born in Annapolis, Maryland. When he was age 9, his parents moved to Jupiter, Florida. Andy spent several years at various radio & television stations in Florida such as WLIZ, WFLX-FOX 29, WIRK, WIXI, WKSY, WRMF, and WJNO to name a few. In 1994, Andy made a career change to computer programming and worked for several technology companies (two are Fortune 500) in Atlanta, Georgia. However, Andy returned to Florida and settled in the small town of Sebastian in 2002. In 2005, he returned to the broadcasting news sector and eventually joined our news team in 2016 as editor in chief. Andy's family has lived in Sebastian for more than 45 years.