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The Perfect Scam

From Puppies to Heartbreak: How a Pet Scam Targets One Man's Home

The Perfect Scam

AARP

True Crime, Aarp, Fraud, Society & Culture, Scam, Crime, Bobsullivan

4.5980 Ratings

🗓️ 24 October 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When a couple pulls up to Gene's North Carolina home looking for their beagle puppy, he is not sure what to make of it. But soon, a steady stream of would-be pet owners arriving in the following days and weeks makes it clear that criminals are using his address to pull off their scams. Gene is patient and helpful with the disappointed families. Even after a fire destroys Gene's home, the scams continue

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This week on The Perfect Scam.

0:04.0

We were out rummaging in the yard or through the rubble,

0:08.0

trying to see if we could save anything,

0:10.0

and then people would drive up looking for puppies.

0:14.0

I think we had one the day after the house burned down.

0:29.6

Welcome back to the perfect scam. I'm your host, Bob Sullivan.

0:32.6

Our exploding world of internet scams has many victims.

0:40.8

Some are collateral damage, as we'll see in today's story.

0:48.0

But what we'll also see is an incredible display of grace in the face of damage and hurt.

0:57.8

And a willingness for people to help each other that takes this frustrating, sad story and turns it into, well, not just one happy ending, but many happy endings.

1:01.0

And it all begins with a mysterious visitor who arrives looking for a puppy.

1:06.7

My name is Jean Shefford. I live in Rutherford, North Carolina.

1:14.4

Well, you run it together sometimes to say Rolston, so you can do that.

1:18.9

Say that again. I want to hear that again.

1:20.8

You can throw an L in there too, Rolfton, or Ruffton. The people that, if you say Rutherford,

1:25.9

they say you're not from here. Of course. It's the awkward way I said at Rutherfordton, they say you're not from here.

1:28.2

Of course.

1:30.5

It's the awkward way I said at Rutherfordton.

1:35.1

I tend to do that too, but my dad would really, he'd roll a Fertone.

1:36.7

He'd really throw the L's in there.

1:39.5

But our mayor says Ruffton.

1:48.0

Rufton, I hope I got that right, is in the foothills of North Carolina, not too far from Asheville. And into this quiet town, well, a steady stream of visitors starts one day. They come from

...

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