The dangers of the Internet struck home for an Abington 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.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 own 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.
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