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Note to self: Don’t be stupid and try to buy a dog on the Internet…

12:07 PM EST on December 17, 2014

lexi

If you read this site often, you're probably aware that I'm a dog guy. I love dogs. In fact, I'd even go so far to say that I like dogs more than people. I would explain why, but I don't feel like being James Thurber this morning.

The dog pictured above is my little girl, Lexi, or as I like to pathetically call her in a strange, wobbly, high-pitched, embarrassed-to-admit voice, "My Sweet Pea." I adopted Lexi from the same pet rescue where I found my late best bud Rowdy. I've had her about a year now.

Because I prefer to adopt homeless dogs that need a home, it's very difficult for me to feel sorry for people like this woman who are scammed while trying to buy a dog on the internet.

Via KOCO:

An Oklahoma mother was scammed out of $400 after trying to buy her daughter a dog online for Christmas.

Stephanie Stout said she thought she was buying a Pomeranian puppy from a legitimate seller, but knew she was scammed after sending $400 on a Reload-it card and never receiving the dog.

“I checked the website on my phone, everything looked fine,” Stout said. “I thought, ‘I’m the adult, I’m the older one, I should be able to handle this,’ and I totally got scammed.”

Stout said after sending the initial $400, the seller told her to contact the shipping company, who then began harassing her for more than $1,000 that she had not agreed to pay.

“I filed a police report, I asked for my money back,” Stout said.

Stout said the seller refused to send her any money back, and now she wants to warn others to be careful and watch out for Internet fraud this holiday season.

“I’m just upset because now I don’t have the money to even buy her anything else,” Stout said. “Do your research. I had been talking to this guy for two and a half weeks between myself and my daughter and I still got scammed.“