A Bismarck woman got caught up in a version of Nigerian scams, wrapped in a fuzzy package.

Toni Miller, 23, now is out about $850 after trying to get two Yorkshire terrier puppies shipped to her from someone posing as a missionary in Nigeria.

Miller saw an ad in the Bismarck Tribune classifieds last week for a $550 Yorkshire terrier puppy. No one answered the phone number listed, so Miller used the e-mail address listed, jacj@;games.com, to get more information.

The phone number in the advertisement actually is a local church's fax number.

The "seller" e-mailed Miller back, saying the dog was no longer available, but a previous buyer may have some puppies available, as the man was a missionary who had been transferred to Nigeria suddenly and was worried about the dogs.

Miller e-mailed that person, supposedly named Jack Frazier Sneed, at jackfraziersneed@gmail.com. He told her, via e-mail, it would cost $500 to ship his two Yorkshire puppies to her in Bismarck. Miller wired the money to a shipping agent named "Roy Wallace."

The puppies were supposed to arrive Tuesday around noon. But "Jack Frazier Sneed" e-mailed Miller to say there were problems in transit, the puppies were stuck at a London airport and she needed to wire $350 more. Miller wired that money, too.

"I've never … bought an animal overseas, so I really didn't know if it was right or not," she said.

She also e-mailed several London airports, but she didn't get responses from them until Wednesday. The responses, which she wishes had arrived earlier, said the airports she contacted don't get flights in from Nigeria.

"Jack Frazier Sneed" e-mailed her again after that, saying more problems had arose and asked her to send $250 more. That time, she didn't send the money and realized something wasn't right about the transaction.

"I haven't heard from him since yesterday," she said.

Previously, Miller thought the whole situation was on the up and up. Her brother had tried to locate "Jack Frazier Sneed" on lists of African missionaries online, but they assumed he hadn't been there long enough to make the lists. And her sister had learned about various "Nigerian" scams in her master's accounting program, but the situation didn't quite seem to fit, Miller said.

"I didn't think they'd use puppies,"she said.

"Jack Frazier Sneed" had e-mailed her copies of a supposed North Carolina driver's license and purported photographs of the puppies, so she felt everything was OK.

Since the seller was describing himself as a Christian missionary, Miller felt it was her duty to help him care for the puppies.

"I'm a Christian, too, so I just thought it would be helping out a fellow Christian," she said.

Now, she's disappointed not only that she won't be getting puppies but that she fell for the scam.

"I was really upset about it yesterday," she said.

Miller reported the incident to police, who told her about other "Nigerian" scams, such as a recent ones where someone will call older people claiming to be a grandchild in trouble and in need of money in Canada or elsewhere. Miller is aware she probably will not recover any of the money she wired, and she's no longer looking for a puppy.

Miller isn't the first person to fall for the Nigerian puppy scam. The American Kennel Club and the Council on Better Business Bureaus put out warnings about similar scams in 2007, and a Western Pennsylvania Better Business Bureau blog warned readers in early June that someone in that area had fallen prey to the scheme. Online scam forums list other names and dog breeds in some instances, though "Jack Frazier Sneed" has been used before, as has holding agent "Roy Wallace."

No one responded to Tribune e-mails to jacj@games.com or jackfraziersneed@gmail.com.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@bismarcktribune.com