Australian man offers $10,000 for missing dog, targeted by AI-photo scam

​Westyn Ruyter with his beloved dog, Bundy, who went missing in Western Australia. (Image: ABC) An Australian man searching desperately for his missing dog offered a A$10,000 reward for its safe return, hoping someone would help bring his beloved pet home. Instead, he received a message from a stranger claiming to have found the animal, followed by a photograph that appeared to show the dog inside a cage. The promise briefly raised his hopes, but the stranger never arrived at the agreed meeting point. When the owner examined the photograph, he suspected it had been created using artificial intelligence, with an image he had previously shared online seemingly manipulated to make the dog appear inside a crate. The incident has highlighted how scammers can exploit the emotional distress of people searching for missing pets.How Bundy went missing in Western AustraliaWestyn Ruyter's 18-month-old dog, Bundy, an Irish wolfhound and blue heeler cross, disappeared on October 9 near Southampton Road in Balingup, a town in Western Australia's South West region, approximately 240 kilometres south of Perth.Ruyter had let Bundy and his two other dogs, Winnie and Runt, out on his rural property, ...