"My daughter wanted a dog and had been pressuring [me] for a long time," Rebecca said.

"I had finally caved in."

But the puppy didn't exist.

Instead of getting a new dog, Rebecca inadvertently gave key identity documents, her address and money to a complete stranger who conned her with a concocted story.

Rebecca is an educated woman with a PhD and she said the experience had left her feeling "stupid".

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has been warning Australians about so-called "puppy scams" for years, with consumers reporting $250,000 in losses this year.

Traditionally the concern has been that people are losing money, but now the ACCC is worried that scammers are going one step further by stealing people's identities too.

Exchanges about puppies ended with a threat

Rebecca contacted Gina's seller via the Trading Post website and received an email back from a person calling themselves Mark.

Mark wrote that he lived in Queensland and had two dachshund puppies for sale that had belonged to his mother, who had just died in Darwin.

"We can't keep the puppies here in such condition because each time we see them, we keep thinking of her," Mark wrote to Rebecca.

The emails got off to a promising start, as Mark assured Rebecca that the puppy would be delivered microchipped, fully vaccinated and with a clean bill of health.

Mark told Rebecca to give him her address and contact details, and transfer him a deposit for Gina over wire transfer.

Rebecca remembered thinking at the time that Mark had "a funny turn of phrase", but her daughter really wanted the puppy, so she went ahead and wired Mark just over $800.

She also sent him her drivers licence and a photocopy of her council rates, because Mark said that he needed them to prove her address and transfer the puppy ownership.

Rebecca said she got suspicious when Mark also asked her to send him "government ID", which wasn't a phrase she'd heard used in Australia.

When she expressed reservations over the request for her passport, Mark wrote "trust me everything is going to be fine", insisting that it was needed in order to deliver the puppy.

Rebecca rang the mobile number listed on the Trading Post advertisement and a man with what she called a heavy "African-French" accent picked up.

"That's when I knew I was probably being scammed," Rebecca said.

Rebecca said she had a heated conversation with the man and when she told him that she wanted her money back and she was going to the police, he told her: "Don't you dare."

"I was really annoyed at myself. And I was scared enough when I realised he had my licence and address," she said.

"Yeah, I was pretty scared then."

Rebecca went to the police but she said they told her they could not investigate it, as the scammer was most likely based overseas and not in the Australian jurisdiction.

In a statement, Victoria Police confirmed it had referred Rebecca to the Australian Federal Police and the ACCC-run body ScamWatch.

Scammers target the 'big business' of identity theft

The ACCC's deputy chair Delia Rickard said it was highly unlikely Rebecca would ever get her money back.

Ms Rickard said what was more concerning than Rebecca losing her money, was the fact she had also given the scammer photocopies of her drivers licence and other materials.

"That's a common thing used in identify theft, when they need to establish your identity through rates and bills. They all go to show you live where you say to do," Ms Rickard said.

"It is really common with almost all types of scams these days that there's an element of identity theft.

"It's big business, identity information. There's a whole dark market in buying it, so you really need to guard your personal identification these days."

Identify theft can lead to scammers taking out loans or credit cards in your name, or even trying to transfer assets or commit crimes using your alias.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 126,300 people were victims of identity theft in the 2014–15 financial year, the latest statistics available.

A 2016 report from the Attorney-General's department estimated identity crime cost Australians $2.2 billion per year.

Calls for more regulation

Ms Rickard said online retailers such as Trading Post and platforms such as Facebook which host online sales "need to be doing considerably more" to stop scammers using their platforms.

A quick search of Trading Post's website links to dozens of advertisements for purebred puppies which appear to be scams.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Trading Post said it had removed the post that scammed Rebecca from its site.

"Each advertisement that is placed is individually checked first by our AI systems and then by our large human moderation team to be as sure as possible based on the information provided that the ad is from a legitimate seller," the statement said.

"In many cases, we even call the seller on the telephone prior to publishing the ad where we cannot be sure of the legitimacy of an advertisement based on the information provided in the ad and by the seller.

"Bad actors and fraudulent people are unfortunately a reality in today's highly connected world, and our constant and growing investment in our trust and safety team is a reflection of how seriously we take this issue."

Ms Rickard said Rebecca had been lucky to even get a response from Trading Post about her case, which often did not happen when people complained about scams to websites.

She said the ACCC had recommended to the Federal Government, as part of its Digital Platforms Inquiry, that there be a digital ombudsman to help regulate online platforms such as Facebook that allow online sales.

"There's no one silver bullet but we do believe this will help put pressure onto platforms to keep scammers off their sites," she said.

In a statement, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, who is responsible for responding to the Digital Platforms Inquiry, said the Government was finalising its response to the ACCC's recommendations.

"Once finalised, the Government will release its response which will ensure that our regulatory framework is fit-for-purpose in the digital age," he said.

In hindsight, Rebecca said there are several things on the advertisement for Gina that should have tipped her off that it was a scam, such as the "classically American" look of the woman in photographs with the puppy.

She has since put passwords on her bank accounts and hopes her identity will be safe. She does not expect to get her money back.

But she has not been entirely persuaded off buying a puppy online, and has her eye on another dachshund puppy for sale in Sydney that she will get her brother to go and meet first.

"We're going to call it Sizzle," she said.