LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Ivory Murphy said she was returning home from returning an errand when she noticed someone was outside her home. She didn’t know who this person was and pulled into the driveway.

Murphy pulled her car into her driveway and told Spectrum News 1, “I rolled down my window and asked if there was something I could assist him with and he said he was there to pick up dogs.”

The man apparently had found somewhere online that led him down this journey toward trying to purchase a dog.

“He had paid for a French bully and the address that was listed in the text message for him to come pick up this dog was at my address,” Murphy said.

Murphy’s home has a “for sale” sign up out front in her yard, making her wonder if that real estate listing was how someone found her address. While she has dogs in her home, they aren’t for sale, and she’s not the one who was messaging this stranger. A stranger that wound up outside her home looking for a dog he thought he purchased.

“He paid for transportation. It was a two and a half hour drive,” Murphy said. Murphy does not sell dogs. After some searching, Murphy found the number the person texted listed on a couple of different websites trying to sell dogs. The BBB lists puppy scams in part of its “12 Scams of Christmas” awareness program. It alerts people to do their research before looking to purchase an animal from an advertisement or website online.

According to the group, 80% of sponsored pet advertisements may be fake. Murphy said the holiday season could cause people to try scams like this to make extra money. 

“He was pretty shocked. It was just written all over his face. He was excited to pick up a puppy,” she said.

She has since taken to social media to warn others. She’d like people to be aware of these types of fraud, so no one else shows up at her front door, or at other homes, looking for a dog like this stranger did.

“I just don’t recommend just throwing your money out there for anything that you don’t really know anything about,” she said.