Don't get scammed! Avoid buying or selling parrots and other pets online.

One Austin, Texas parrot owner learned a valuable lesson about buying and selling parrots over the pet friendly Internet.

As NBC affiliate KXAN reported:

An Austin woman named Tina - she prefers to stay anonymous after the crime - was peddling parrots part time. Her ad on Craigslist drew a response. The caller said he wanted to buy her birds, but he turned out to be a bold, bare-faced bandit. Tina made the mistake of telling him when she would arrive home, but he beat her there and filched her fine feathered friends.

We always remind pet owners that it is a bad idea to buy or sell pets over the internet, particularly on Craigslist. Fortunately, in this woman's case, the criminal wasn't very smart and now will be spending some time in a cage of his own! Watch the rest of the story below.