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WFSB (Hartford, Connecticut) 05 January 05 Woman selling turtle avoids online scam
Pawtucket, R.I.: A Pawtucket woman narrowly avoids losing thousands of dollars after trying to sell her rare turtle on the Internet.
The woman auctioned her red-footed tortoise for 200 dollars. But the shipping costs were 18-hundred dollars. She received a check, but it bounced.
Then the seller sent her another check -- from Africa. It bounced.
She called the police.
Detective Major John Whiting says its a good thing the woman never shipped the turtle. He says it's the second attempted Internet scam Pawtucket police have seen in a week and people should be careful when selling goods -- or pets -- online.
Woman selling turtle avoids online scam

PAWTUCKET TIMES (Rhode Island) 05 January 05 Police say rare-animal scam showed up in Pawtucket (Kevin P. O'Connor)
Pawtucket: A city woman won a competition for a turtle by moving slowly.
She also saved her pet from falling into the hands of criminals, police say.
A city woman called police for advice after a series of communications with a man who said he wanted to buy her red-foot tortoise.
"She had the tortoise for sale on the internet," said Detective Major John Whiting. "A man bid on it and won the bid. The problems came after that."
A red-foot tortoise is native to South America and is a protected species. A captured tortoise cannot be shipped out of its native country without a permit. The tortoise is bred in the United States, primarily in Florida. Bred tortoises can shipped within the country without a permit.
In this case, the turtle sold for $200, but shipping costs were $1,800. The woman accepted a check from the bidder but did not send off her turtle until she got the go-ahead from the bank.
The check bounced and bounced again. She contacted the bidder. She was promised another check but then was told that the check got sent, by mistake to Africa. It was forwarded to her from Africa.
The woman was asked to hold the check until it could be covered but to ship the tortoise in the interim, police say.
"She was smart enough to not do anything besides call us," Whiting said. "She would have been out the tortoise and the money because the check was no good."
The woman still has the tortoise. The police have the check. They are trying now to reach the bidder who sent the checks.
"We are warning people to be careful," Whiting said. "This is the second attempted scam we’ve seen in a week. People are out there, trying to cheat people."
In this case, the crime allegedly committed is attempted fraud. It would be fraud if the sale was completed.
The Pawtucket Police investigated the case because the complaint was made here. If a crime had been committed, police would have been required to determine where the crime took place.
In the early days of internet trade, law enforcement agreed that the crime would be committed where money actually changed hands or goods were exchanged.
In this case, the crime would have been committed in Pawtucket if the woman had been tricked into sending off her tortoise to someone who did not intend to pay for it.
Police are now trying to find the person who sent the woman the worthless check.
The woman told police she is keeping her tortoise for now.
Police say rare-animal scam showed up in Pawtucket