Steve Mallard of Tennessee Technology Center at Shelbyville reports that two different acquaintances of his have been touched in different ways by the same type of online scam.

The scam, which has been popular for many months, involves classified ads placed in newspapers offering puppies -- often Yorkies. This isn't a case of someone local offering puppies for sale or to be given away. Those ads -- like the one placed recently by T-G staff writer Sadie Fowler -- are usually legitimate.

The scam ads are placed by someone out of town, or actually out of the country, and the pitch often involves a sob story about moving overseas and trying to place the dogs in a good home. (Why someone would advertise out-of-state to dispose of the puppies is never quite explained.) After the initial contact, the interested purchaser is asked to pay an "adoption fee" or shipping costs to facilitate sending the puppies.

In fact, there are no puppies. It's all a confidence scheme.

Requests to place such ads are received frequently at the T-G's general newsroom address, from out-of-towners who haven't bothered to check on the classified advertising department's real address. Most of them are immediately recognizable as scams and many are written in fractured English by persons overseas, out of reach of U.S. investigators.

According to Mallard, a friend of his noticed a mysterious $197 charge on his credit card statement. After doing some investigation, it was discovered that the friend's credit card number had been stolen and used to place a Yorkie ad in an Atlanta, Ga., newspaper.

The friend immediately had the bank cancel the credit card number and issue a new card with a different number.

Mallard, meanwhile, began telling a co-worker about what had happened to his friend, and the co-worker said a friend of his was just about to send money by Western Union to Nigeria for "free puppies." The two of them immediately recognized the overseas puppy scam and were able to stop the co-worker's friend before she actually wired the money.

Mallard notified Lt. Pat Mathis of Shelbyville Police Department about the incident so that the city can help get the word out about the problem.

"We both were stunned to see how hackers and people who commit fraud adjust their tactics and use any means to commit fraud," said Mallard.

"Now to show you how small the world is, someone in a foreign country hacked a server somewhere that my friend did business on. An ad was run through an advertising agency in California for a newspaper in Atlanta. Someone Mike [Mallard's co-worker] knew found the ad and almost ordered the puppies. The victims were within three miles of each other and both at a hacker's mercy."

Mallard said that his friend who had the false credit card charges later went on-line to put a 90 day credit watch on the three credit reporting agencies' web sites.

"Within the hour," said Mallard, "he discovered several more withdrawals on his bank account. He was floored."

TTCS offers literature on protecting your computer and your identity. The brochures can be picked up in the electronics department at Wal-Mart, at most local banks and at TTCS.

Meanwhile, to help information technology professionals understand security and the internet, the Computer Information Technology class at TTCS has added EC-Council's Certified Network Defense Architect certification, which is also known as the "Certified Ethical Hacker" certification. It is now recognized by the National Security Agency.

EC-Council curriculum provides a broad range of skills and knowledge needed to build and manage an organization's networking and security operations. TTCS is an authorized training partner and Prometric testing center for the CEH/CNDA certification.

TTCS is also hosting the FBI's Infragard April meeting, according to Mallard.

"As an Infragard member, I encourage all law enforcement, water systems, agricultural specialist and information technology professional to apply for membership at www.infragard.net,\" he said. "The Infragard allows the exchange of information between various professionals and the FBI."