DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A birthday surprise for a special-needs boy in Daytona Beach was ruined when scammers took his grandmother for well more than a thousand dollars, she says.

  • Daytona Beach woman went online to buy service animal for grandson
  • She wanted to present puppy to special-needs boy at 3rd birthday party
  • She sent online seller $1,400 before being told puppy was too sick to fly

Xayden, who loves pugs, has brain damage and special needs, so his adopted grandmother thought getting him a pug puppy would help him. 

"It just kind of ruined it... because that was the whole purpose of doing the pug puppy theme is because we were getting him his puppy," Brenda Jacobs said.

"I wanted to make the puppy a service dog for him, like a therapy dog, because that is what he needs," Jacobs said.

So she went online to a website advertising pugs and picked out a puppy listed for $500. (We are not linking to the seller's website, which is listed in a police report.)

"I sent them the money for the puppy. Then they said it's $180 for delivery through the airlines, so I sent that, then the next day, I get an email from this shipping company... They wanted $1,500 for a special crate due to the weather in California. So I got it down to $500, sent them that," Jacobs said.

It turned out that after many texts, that wasn't the end of it.

"The next day, I get an email saying they need $300 insurance for the puppy, so we send them that."

Jacobs said she ended up sending $1,400 in digital payments before being told that the puppy was sick and couldn't travel.

That's when she realized it was all a scam.

"I told them I was contacting authorities. They told me, 'No, please, don't contact authorities, because we don’t need no trouble.' Well, right then and there, I knew," Jacobs said.

She hasn't heard from them since.

Jacobs filed a report with Daytona Beach Police, which is investigating. They think the scam is being run out of Nigeria, which will make it very hard to catch them.

We reached out to the puppy sellers for comment but did not hear back. The company has been listed on a pet scam website since early May. The phone numbers used to text with Jacobs were 424-666-1876 and 334-357-5671.

While Jacobs doesn't expect to get her money back, she hopes other families learn from this and don’t fall for the same scam. 

"I don't want it to happen to another child," Jacobs said. "I don't want it to happen to another family. This is just wrong."

This Daytona Beach Police report details the incident and the phone numbers with which Brenda Jacobs was texting to coordinate the sale. (Screen capture from police report)
This Daytona Beach Police report details the incident and the phone numbers with which Brenda Jacobs was texting to coordinate the sale. (Screen capture from police report)