WWYD. Should this family be reimbursed even though they bought a dog which had been stolen?

[SixStringWidow]

I'm going to do this story as succinctly as I can.

Shih Tzu puppy goes missing on fireworks night after a catalogue of errors
My friends frantically search, put up posters everywhere, facebook appeals etc
Friends who have 3 young dc are devastated by their dog being missing
Several calls to say that dog has been spotted, cue more frantic searching of areas mentioned.
This goes on for 5 days

On the 5th day my friend gets a call from a woman saying that she thinks she may have bought missing dog, however the dog will not respond to the name she was given and she finds it odd.

She bought the dog for £150 from an unknown and is unable to contact this person (the mobile number provided has now gone dead)

So, my friend tells the woman the name of missing dog and the dog responds.

After several conversations, pleading with woman to bring the dog back just to confirm for sure, she eventually agrees and it turns out that the dog does actually belong to my friend.

While giving my friend her dog back the womans DH requested that my friend reimburse the £150.

WWYD?

There's no legal basis for the request - the person who sold the dog to them didn't have title, your friend has that. Theonly question is whether your friend wants to make a good-will gesture.

Sounds like a scam, tbh.

Person 'finds' dog, claims they were sold it, doesn't want to keep dog so asks real owners to refund the non-existent fee they paid.

Or maybe they're genuine, in which case they need to learn lessons about how to buy a dog. Which is very unfortunate, because they have been duped, but there is an ethical and moral way to buy an animal. And there's no way it's reasonable to have to pay to have your own stolen property back. Harsh but fair.

So I think a good will payment to refund the cost of food for the dog is in order, but that's all.

I understand what you're saying regarding the good-will gesture however my initial reaction was that the people who bought the dog should have ensured they were buying it from a reliable source.

Then again, had they not bought the dog then the poor animal may never have been returned...

AFAIK my friend is trying to raise some cash to send some money, but not £150 because she just doesn't have that kind of money.

Do your friends have the dog now - did the people who 'bought' the dog give it back to her, or are they still in possession of the dog until the £150 can be paid?

I would be very suspicious that this is a scam - cynical cow that I am.

Have they got any proof that the dog is actually theirs? Has it been chipped? If not, I would assume they are at the mercy of the people who currently have the dog. Have they offered to make any payment?

My friend has the dog back.

At one point we thought the "buyers" only wanted to know the real name of the dog so that they could keep it and play happy families with their stolen goods.

It is a difficult one - if they have given the dog back out of goodwill perhaps it is not a scam. But they have been very naive imo.

Iwouldn't give them any money, I would pay instead to have the dog chipped.

If friend has the dog back then no, I wouldnt pay anything.

It sounds like a scam to me too. 'Finder' is pretending that she paid for the dog.

If she is genuine then the finder has learned a valuable lesson about buying a dog 'off the street' and wont do it again.

Harsh maybe, but your friend cannot be sure that 'finder' is telling the truth, and 'finder' shouldn't have bought the dog in the first place.

No, I wouldnt pay. I would suggest the "buyer" goes to the police.

Buyer Beware. If true, it should have been bloody obvious the dog was stolen.

I wouldnt give them a penny sounds like a scam to me :(

It sounds suspicious to me too, I've heard of scams like this before.

Even if it is genuine I don't think the owners are obliged to 'reimburse' anyone, though obviously they could offer a reward if they wanted to.

This sounds very suspicious to me too. I don't think they are under any obligation to pay; the person who supposedly 'bought' the dog should go to the police or small claims court to get their money back. I'm glad the rightful owner got the dog back.

Isn't it the case that bought stolen goods must be returned to the original owner at the expense (unfortunately) of the person who bought the 'hot' items?

A couple of points. Firstly, so glad the dog has made it back home.

The "buyer" is almost certainly a scammer. This is incredibly common, and your friend is fantastically lucky to have got their dog back, rather than the "buyer" insisting on being repaid a spurious and inflated sum for the dog. By giving these people a penny your friend would simply be encouraging the next theft.

Presumably the "buyer" doesn't have anything like a receipt? And does anyone really buy a dog from the proverbial "man down the pub" whose mobile has mysteriously and conveniently now been disconnected?

Final point - microchipping. Is your friend's dog chipped? If not, then please suggest to them that is an ideal opportunity to get them done. If it is, then any "reputable" finder of the dog would have taken it to a vet, rescue or DW to have got it scanned in an attempt to find the owner, especially after Bonfire Night when many dogs are frightened by fireworks and some sadly do bolt.

In the vanishingly small likelihood you believe the "buyer" to be genuine (but stupidly naive) then I would offer to make a donation to a charity of their choice, as a gesture of thanks.

Your friend should also take a look at the Dogslost website for some advice and to see how many other people this happens to. Not that the OP needs to hear it, cos you sound as though you realise this, but for others, this really reinforces the point about having secure garden boundaries and not leaving dogs unattended.

It's a scam and she should call the Police. Where was this?

My friend has called the police about this. And has since found out that the woman who bought the dog has also reported this!

It appears that the family who bought the dog were genuine and actually the victims of a scam organised by the person who picked up the dog from the street in the in the first place.

Police don't have much to go on so we're not holding our breath.

If this thread has done anything it's spread a little bit of awareness about animal security for anyone reading.

The dog has now been microchipped I believe.

Thanks all for your comments :)