Martinez woman scammed out of nearly $1,000 trying to buy Russian tortoise

The Columbia County Sheriff's Office is investigating after a Martinez woman was scammed out of nearly $1,000 while trying to purchase a Russian tortoise.

The 44-year-old woman called the sheriff's office Friday to report a fraud.

She told deputies she purchased a Russian tortoise on Dec. 19 from a "Tortoise For Adoption" Facebook group run out of Greenville, South Carolina, according to an incident report.

The seller required a $100 deposit for the tortoise through a Walmart gift card after failed PayPal attempts, according to the report. The woman gave the seller the gift card information over Facetime and agreed to pay a $50 shipping fee at a later date.

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The woman told deputies the total cost of the tortoise was supposed to be $150 with shipping, according to the report. However, on Jan. 3, the seller told her she needed to pay $807 to the shipping company, Logistics Global, for other services required to ship the tortoise – which included a veterinary shot, permit, crate rental and insurance.

Deputies noted the woman paid Logistics Global $807 through ApplePay in five separate payments, according to the report. After the woman made the payments to Logistics Global, she received a tracking number on Jan. 4 and was told the tortoise would be delivered on the same day.

The woman told deputies she did not receive the tortoise and got a notification from Logistics Global requiring her to pay an additional $200 for the storage fee, due to the shipping company having to store the tortoise safely, according to the report. The woman refused to make any more payments and called the sheriff's office to investigate.

This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Martinez woman scammed by Fecebook group claiming to sell tortoises