‘Overwhelmed with anger’, dog show judge has credentials ‘stolen’ in alleged puppy sale scam

SINGAPORE – Mr Bernard Ong was making his way to his pet grooming academy on Sunday morning for a day of teaching when he received a photograph of Shih Tzu puppies from a friend on his phone.

The screenshot of a Facebook post publicised the pups’ availability and had seemingly been posted by Mr Ong.

As he scrolled through the link to the post, he spotted another image: certification bearing his credentials as a dog show judge with the Singapore Kennel Club (SKC), the national canine organisation. 

“I was taken aback and overwhelmed with anger due to the potential consequences which could impact my professional credentials and businesses,” the 46-year-old told The Straits Times on Monday. He has since lodged a police report.

The Facebook post advertising the puppies’ availability had appeared on the Little Pets Singapore Facebook group on May 28. It read: “I have shih tzu puppies to rehom (sic), recently got a new job and won’t be able to cope with the babies and work. Pv me for more information on Messenger, thanks.”

It caught the eye of a cashier, who transferred $500 as a deposit requested by the dogs’ seller.

Ms Lina, 43, who declined to reveal her last name, said: “We agreed that I would pay half the adoption fee as a deposit and the remainder upon collecting the puppies.”

She said that during the transaction, she was sent a copy of the certificate bearing Mr Ong’s show judge credentials.

It was only when the scammer began asking her for more money that her suspicions grew.

“The scammer then asked me to pay the remainder in order to purchase supplies for the animals which I refused as I already had some of these supplies at home,” she said.

Ms Lina said that she has since lodged a police report and also called her bank to request that her accounts be frozen. She also flagged the post in the Facebook group.

Mr Ong said that after he learnt of the alleged scam and impersonation, he posted an alert on his personal Facebook account and also informed SKC of the incident.

In his post, he asked friends to share it and not to trust the “imposter”. He added that “he has the same full name as me and he’s using my judging license to scam people”.

He also said that he had not shown Shih Tzus for “more than a decade and I don’t have any Shih Tzu as well”.

The SKC alerted its members and followers on its Facebook page on Sunday about the incident and also warned them not to post any official documents on social media to prevent against misuse.