'Callous and ruthless' scammers target dog owners

she is no longer alive.

"Even that bad news is better than no news at all.

"We are glad at least we know what happened to her, and she had not been stolen."

Police are advising people to complete extensive checks before sending any reward money to confirm that the person actually has a missing dog.

Methods of checking include Facetime or asking for new photos of the dog.

Andy said Hazel Richards, a local contact for LostDog.co.uk was a great help – and he advised owners to advertise missing animals on their site, and allow them to handle contacts.

the information to Cumbria, where detectives were already investigating multiple incidents.

He said: "It is a national scam - they surf the net looking for lost animals and contact the owners pretending they have their pets.

"It all sounds plausible, with the bank details too, but they use stolen bank account details. They are technically capable and ruthless about the way they do it.”

Cumbria police said they have received over 100 reports from across the country of scams involving lost dogs, which they believe are linked. More reports are coming in regularly and a “very complex investigation” is being carried out.

So far, 15 people from Barrow-in-Furness have been arrested in relation to offences including blackmail, fraud and attempted fraud, and released under investigation.

Andy’s story had a sad ending – he found Belle’s body in a local lake a few weeks later, and believes she fell through the ice after escaping from the garden.

He said: “At least she is home. We have her back, even though