Mother Finds Own Child For Sale Online.....

Officials Investigate Apparent Adoption Scam

ABINGTON, Mass. -- The dangers of the Internet struck home for a Massachusetts mother when she found her own child for sale on Craigslist as part of what appears to be an international adoption scam.

Seven-month old Jacob Brennan was busy playing with toys when his mother, Jenni, got what she called a shocking e-mail, WCVB-TV reported.

"Out of the blue, some girl e-mailed us and said, 'I think you should know someone's using Jake's picture in an adoption scam'," said Brennan, who said she found the message hard to believe.

Brennan followed the link included in the e-mail and found an ad on the Craigslist Web site. The ad promised that a "cute baby boy" was available for adoption, but did not include a picture.

Brennan decided to play detective and sent an e-mail to the address listed. She quickly received a picture in her inbox.

"The picture he sends you is a picture of Jake," Brennan said. "It was horrifying. I never would have thought in a million years that I would have the emotional reaction that I did."

The e-mail claimed her son is Canadian born and living at an orphanage in Cameroon and said that for $300 she could begin the adoption process.

"Then it was my child, and I realized he was being used in a scam. I got really angry, incredibly angry," she said.

Brennan discovered that the picture was taken from her family blog.

"I know other people had access to it, but I didn't think anyone would really want to (take the picture from it)," she said.

Brennan called both the FBI and the Massachusetts Attorney General's office. Yahoo told her they have now shut down the e-mail account used in the posting.

Brennan has also now restricted access to her family blog.

Mother Finds Own Child For Sale Online - Jacksonville News Story - WJXT Jacksonville

Now that's scary as hell. What if he was eying the child for kidnapping and sold the child?

That's something new to me, people come up with all sorts of imaginative ways to scam people.

The mom got lucky (and unlucky for this dipshit) that he got caught.

Yiz

I am sure the FBI will trace the E mail address (IP address) and prosecute the person that was doing so.

Loghead said:

I'd really like to know how they got a picture of her son. Maybe she has an open Facebook account or maybe someone she knows is involved in the scam.

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It can happen on any site. When you upload a picture on a website and it is not copyrighted. A third party can use the photo to its advantage.

Sad to say. But it is true.. So be careful on what types of pictures you post on the net.

In this case it is best not post photos of your children on the Internet, if you do, make sure the photo is taken in such a way that it would be difficult to alter it such as cropping out an adult family member, and that any alterations would be obvious. You can also place a digital watermark on it that makes it difficult to photoshop out without having obvious distortion and discoloration.

Hopefully the authorities tracked down the user of the Yahoo! mail account and arrested them and prosecuted them to the full extent of the law.

that is so F'ed up

Loghead said:

I'd really like to know how they got a picture of her son. Maybe she has an open Facebook account or maybe someone she knows is involved in the scam.

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It says that someone got it from her blog.

This is disturbing. I was saw an episode of Without a Trace where this girl was browsing online and came across her own picture on a "MISSING" bulletin online. It scared her enough that she ran away from home and went to the FBI to see whether it was her own adopted parents that kidnapped her or not.

People like these are begging to be strung by their balls.

This is why you should not put up picture of your children anywhere on the internet. To do so is very irresponsible.