Some are using animals and guilt to scam money too. A girl I worked with wanted a miniature dog called a 'teacup pomeranian'.
She couldnt find one locally but found one on the internet in Darwin, The seller said she would part with it for free, it had belonged to her late mother and just wanted to see it go to a good home. However, the freight company that specialised in sending pets would need a payment of $500 before the dog would be sent from Darwin to Perth. The next day she got a call from the annoyed seller, asking where the money was. She was told the dog was already at the freight terminal and was very distressed in the heat and could possibly die.
We did a search for the freight company and found it was registered in Africa. She sent no money and I guess the dog never existed.
