On Monday, Google indicted a fraudster, saying it had implemented a “puppy fraud scheme” online to defraud vulnerable groups, including the elderly, of thousands of dollars with false promises from purebred puppies. The indictment filed Monday accuses Nche Noel, from Cameroon, of using a network of fake websites, Google voice phone numbers and Gmail accounts to pretend to sell thoroughbred Bassett hounds online to people.
In one case, a victim paid Noel $700 for an “eGift Card” to buy a puppy. After sending the gift card, he continued to trick the victims into telling them that the courier company still needed to charge $1500, and it was clear that no matter how much the victim paid, the puppy would not arrive.
“The perpetrators used a network of fraudulent websites claiming to sell Bassett Hound puppies — complete with enticing photos and fake customer testimonials — to defraud money during the pandemic,” Mike Trin, a senior lawyer at Google, wrote in a blog post-Monday. “Sadly, this scam is disproportionately targeted at senior Americans, who may be more vulnerable to cyberattacks.”
In addition to using Google’s services to communicate with victims, Google accused Knoll of running Google advertising campaigns to promote these fraudulent sites.
Google said in the complaint that the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), an organization that assists in solving problems in the lives of seniors, had alerted the company to the scam as early as last September. Later, in November, the American Association of Retired Persons published a report detailing the puppy fraud scam and writing that during the COVID-19 pandemic, criminals were taking advantage of lonely consumers who were seeking companionship.
during the pandemic, online scams have risen sharply as people spend more time on social media. last april, the ftc reported that it had issued more than 100 alerts and called on more than 350 companies to remove deceptive claims from the internet.
Google’s lawsuit alleges that Knoll violated the company’s terms of service when it carried out the alleged scam. Google is seeking statutory damages.