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Lost-pet ads spawn scam, a tale of alleged dog-napping Jim Craven photo Just send money and you�ll get dog back, caller says By dani dodge A scam artist is apparently preying on the broken-hearted owners of missing dogs in Southern Oregon. At least four Jackson County residents have gotten suspicious collect calls from Arizona in response to lost-dog ads in the Mail Tribune. The caller tells them he knows where the dog is and will return the pet for the cost of the airline ticket and cage � about $350. While the case bears some of the marks of a dognapping scheme, it appears to be an out-of-state scam that exploits desperate dog owners. One man paid the ransom, and his dog was found the next day about a mile and a half from where it was lost. Another man refused to pay and still hasn�t seen Blue, his beloved Weimaraner. "I�m devastated," said Glenn Gaither, who lives near Gold Hill. "I go home every day hoping she�ll show up, and she�s never there. It�s a terrible thing � like losing a child." After hearing about the cases, Medford police Lt. Tim George said it is clearly a scam. Someone who never had the dogs read the Mail Tribune�s lost-pets ad on the Internet and tried to make a few easy bucks off distraught pet owners. "I doubt if the one dog was driven to an abandoned warehouse and kicked out with a blindfold after the ransom was paid," George said. "I think that dog was always out there and someone was naive enough to send up some money." Jackson County sheriff�s Sgt. Rich Fogarty is investigating three cases as possible dognappings or pet-owner scams. He has reason to believe the cases are connected; the latest victim got a call just this week about her missing yellow Labrador. It�s possible, Fogarty said last week, that someone could have taken the dogs and concocted the Arizona story "to throw people off." At least one local woman who makes a living tracking down lost pets said she�s heard of similar scams before. "People call you up and say, �I�m a trucker and I was in your neighborhood today and found your dog and I didn�t have time to find you, so send me the money and I�ll fly your dog back. Pick him up at 6 p.m,�" said Carol Hawk of Talent, who works for the nationwide company Pet Finders. "People go to the airport and there�s no flight at 6 p.m." Hawk remembers a case in Los Angeles seven years ago. A woman canceled her pet search because she paid money to have her dog flown to the Los Angeles airport, but she was devastated when she never saw the dog or heard from the caller again. Online advertisements have made it easier for such scam artists, said Hawk. "Now they do it more often because they can get more newspapers off the Internet." A random check of Mail Tribune lost-dog ads revealed that only some owners were contacted by the Arizona collect caller � and only those who advertised a reward. A trace of the calls found they all came from different pay phones. One Medford woman who received a collect call from Arizona about two months ago after her poodle went missing said the caller asked her too many personal questions; she ended the call before the man could ask for money. "I just thought it was a weirdo," said Joyce Watkins. The one dog owner who found his dog after paying the ransom is still concerned about someone harming it, and declined to be named in this story. He lost his dog in early July. He put up fliers and placed an ad in the paper. The day after he wired the money to the Arizona caller, several people called to say they�d spotted his dog. He found her wandering about seven miles from his house. "I don�t know whether they are kidnapping them or it�s a complete scam," he said. "My gut instincts are it�s just a scam. My wife thinks there�s a connection and there�s someone here who has the missing dogs." Gaither�s nightmare began in one day in late March when he found his two Weimaraners, Elvis and Blue, missing from his fenced yard. Elvis showed up a week later, looking like he�d been well cared for. Gaither heard nothing about Blue until he ran his second lost-dog ad. He got five collect calls from Arizona. The caller said his mean boss had stolen the dog. Each time he called, he said he was trying to find ways to get the dog back to Gaither. When he finally asked for airfare, Gaither assumed it was a scam and refused. Now, Gaither said, he doesn�t know if it was a scam or not. He�s convinced someone out there has his beautiful Blue, the smartest dog he�s ever owned. "She�s a really cool dog. ... One of the tricks I taught her was to put a piece of cheese on her nose. She didn�t do anything. Then I snapped my fingers and she took it,�� he said. Looking back, Gaither said last week, he wishes he�d paid the money. He still goes out every night, driving around looking for Blue. "I�m willing to do just about anything to get my dog back," he said. Reach reporter Dani Dodge at 776-4471, or e-mail [email protected] Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA