Former AFL star Andrew Leoncelli fleeced of thousands of dollars in online puppy scam
A former AFL star and his family have been left “devastated” after falling victim to an elaborate puppy scam involving a highly sophisticated overseas crime syndicate. It comes as he issues a warning to families buying puppies during lockdown.
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Former AFL star Andrew Leoncelli has been fleeced of thousands of dollars after falling victim to an elaborate online puppy scam.
Mr Leoncelli, a former Melbourne player, said he was left furious after being targeted by a highly sophisticated overseas crime syndicate while searching for staffy puppies on popular classifieds website Gumtree.
“I was searching for staffy puppies for my children on Gumtree and I saw some ads on the top of the page in the form of Google ads, they appeared legitimate and the websites selling the puppies also looked genuine,” he said.
“The website appeared to be a reputable breeder with guarantees and testimonials and then I had several email exchanges with a woman named Sarah Laudin who claimed to be from Tasmania saying the puppy was the last in its litter,” he said.
Mr Leoncelli said he then made an “irrational” and “emotional” decision and paid $2850 for the puppy.
“My children were tugging at the heartstrings and my partner really wanted the puppy, but the next day after the money had cleared they were being elusive and refused to answer my calls.”
He said after becoming highly suspicious of the breeder, his partner made inquiries.
“When my partner inquired the name of the breeder changed to Nick Isler and he told her the puppy we originally inquired about was the same one he was trying to sell her.
“The man had a heavy African accent and engaged in several phone conservations and was being very pushy to sell the dog.”
Mr Leoncelli said his family had been left “devastated” by the scam and called upon authorities to take action.
“It’s not good enough that Gumtree and Google are allowing these ads. Sarah Laudin’s account was also with Commonwealth Bank, so how are they getting away with opening fraudulent accounts?” he said.
“After complaining to Gumtree senior management they took the ad down but five minutes later a nearly identical website is back up and running with the same photos of the puppy and other fake breeding sites.”
He said he had contacted police and the government’s cyber crime team.
“There are not enough protections for the average consumer. This has to stop and these businesses need to take responsibility for allowing their ads.
“There’s a lot of people buying puppies during lockdown and they need to be vigilant about these types of scams and it’s best wait until they can visit the breeder.”
A Gumtree spokeswoman said the company took matters such as this very seriously and was investigating to prevent this from happening again in the future.
“Gumtree has taken action to remove these third party adverts from the website. The advertisements had been placed on the site through Google Adsense program and not through the Gumtree platform directly,” the spokeswoman said.
“We are frustrated by Mr Leoncelli’s experience of an ingenuine third party advert on site. We have done everything possible to action this issue and are committed to removing reported third party adverts as swiftly as possible.’’
A CBA spokeswoman said the security of its customers’ banking details was a top priority for the Commonwealth Bank.
“We invest in state of the art fraud prevention and detection technology and have a dedicated team who actively monitor unusual or suspicious activity,” she said.
“Unfortunately, scams and illegal activity may still occur from time to time. We offer our customers the benefit from our 100 per cent guarantee against online fraud where they are not at fault,” she said.
A Victoria Police spokeswoman said Malvern police were investigating the incident.
“It is understood a victim believed they bought a staffordshire bull terrier puppy from a website and made a substantial deposit payment,” she said.
“Once they paid the deposit the online business ceased all contact, leaving the victims without a puppy or their money back.
“The investigation remains ongoing and police urge anyone with information in relation to the scam to come forward.”
Anyone with any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers.
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