Puppy scam: Sydney man charged over $91k scheme

A Sydney man has been charged with police alleging he was a “money mule” working on behalf of a multi-national puppy scam syndicate.

A Sydney man has been arrested with police alleging he was a “money mule” working on behalf of a multi-national puppy scam syndicate.

Police will allege in court the man played a role in scamming more than $91,000 from would be dog owners before laundering the money through cryptocurrency.

He is accused of receiving the money as deposits in his own personal bank account before allegedly converting the funds into cryptocurrency.

A Sydney man, who police describe as a money mule acting for a $91,000 puppy scam, has been arrested. Picture: NSW Police

The 53-year-old man was arrested at a unit on George St, Sydney. NSW: Police

The 53-year-old man was arrested at a unit on George St, Sydney around 8.45am on Tuesday, before taking him to Day Street Police Station, where he was charged with one count of participate in criminal group, and 23 counts of knowingly deal with proceeds of crime.

Cumberland Police Area Command Crime Manager Detective Inspector Glenn Morfoot said the online advertisements for designer breed puppies asking for thousands of dollars.

“They’re mostly french bulldog and british bulldog puppies so as you can imagine we’re talking somewhere in the vacinity of two to five thousand dollars per puppy,” Inspector Morfoot said.

Inspector Morfoot said it was “quite a hard environment for the prospective buyers,” with the high demand for puppies since the pandemic began.

“As far as we believe, these dogs never existed, it is a case that they have sourced photographs from other places and used those photographs in lieu of the dogs,” Insp Moorfoot said.

“People do need to do their due diligence, if they’re not sure about it they probably need to contact the people direct rather than just relying purely on online communication.”

The man was granted conditional bail to appear before Downing Centre Local Court on Wednesday June 23.