Mass. mother finds own child advertised for adoption

ABINGTON, Mass. -- The scenario could have been lifted from a Hollywood screenplay - mother finds pictures on the internet of children available for adoption and sees her own son.

But for Jenni Brennan, this was no cinema thriller - it was the real thing.

The Abington mother recieved a chilling e-mail, alerting her that an international adoption agency advertising on Craigslist featured a picture of Brennan's 7-month-old son Jacob.

Brennan believes that Jacob's picture was copied from her family's online blog, which she has since removed from public access. But before Brennan could confirm it was Jacob's picture, she was forced to do some personal sleuthing.

The Craigslist advertisement promised a "cute baby boy" for adoption but did not provide a picture. Brennan sent a message to the ad's e-mail address.

Within minutes a picture of her son arrived in her inbox. 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.

Brennan alerted the F.B.I. and the Massachusetts Attorney General's office. While Yahoo.com immediately shut down the advertiser's email address, authorities have yet to identify the persons behnd the scam.