A worried dog owner was told to cough up $30 or her dog would be left to die.
Auckland resident Jasmine Beaumont-Morgan was furious and upset after her Jack Russell cross, Poppy, was possibly dog-napped.
Poppy, twelve, went missing from her South Auckland home on November 10, but Beaumont-Morgan said there were no obvious escape routes for the dog.
Later that day, Beaumont-Morgan's husband Ben received texts from a man who found the phone number on a tag on Poppy's collar.
Things quickly went pear-shaped. One text said Poppy would be dumped on the road if a fee wasn't paid.