A victim of pet fraud said a seemingly reputable dog breeder "disappeared into thin air" online after scamming her out of £500.
Kate Margolis, a designer from Tetbury, intended to buy a golden retriever that was due to be born in December 2019 but she was told the dog had died the day before she was due to collect him, in February 2020.
When she tried to recover the deposit she had paid her calls went unanswered and the breeder's website disappeared, leaving "absolutely no trace".
After discovering pet scams like these were common, Ms Margolis created an app called Pet Proov to protect people who buy animals online from falling foul of similar forms of fraud.
Ms Margolis said she had found the breeder online and the website had credentials and testimonials.
