Baby's pic used in adoption scam

An Abington mother says she found a picture of her baby boy online in an advertisement saying the child was available for adoption.

The ad was posted on Craigslist saying: “A CUTE BABY BOY FOR ADOPTION HE IS VERY HEALTHY AND READY FOR ADOPTION FOR MORE YOU COME BACK TO US.” ( SEE THE AD )

Jenni Brennan was told by a stranger that a picture of Brennan’s 7-month-old Jake was used as the “boy for adoption” in the online scam. 

So Brennan tried responding to the ad herself, and sure enough, an e-mail was sent to her using her son’s picture, describing him as a child born in Canada, but now living in an orphanage in the African nation of Cameroon.

The scammers didn’t bother to cover up their tracks either. Inside of the e-mail, Brennan could easily see that the photo was taken from her family blog.

“Our intent was just for family and friends to be able to know what’s going on in our lives,” she said.

“I know he wasn’t being physically harmed and no one was going to come to our door and try to take him, but I felt like his likeness was being violated,” she said.

Brennan contacted the FBI and the attorney general’s office. Yahoo! shut down the e-mail addresses used in the scam.

“I would think this is happening to a lot of people. They just don’t know it,” Brennan said.

Brennan also placed privacy settings on her blog.