Facebook has been accused of hosting adverts for “puppy raffles” where newborn dogs are offered as prizes in cash competitions for as little as £15 per ticket.

It comes as one leading pet sales website has taken down 2,300 unscrupulous adverts offering puppies as Christmas presents, with many believed to be posted by organised criminal gangs based abroad.

One British breeder recently offered a dachshund puppy as a “bonus ball” prize on Facebook, giving users the chance to win the animal if they pay to enter the competition.

In a post featuring a photo of several puppies sleeping in a basket, the breeder said: “So no one share this post please cuz I am getting hammered for it. I know some people won’t agree but it gives people the chance to own a pet for life.”

A Facebook user reported a further advert from a different breeder to the police, RSPCA and Trading Standards as well as Pets4Homes, a pet sales website.The advert featured a video of a dog who had recently given birth to several puppies, with the comment: “Raffle good luck”.The user who reported it said: “The poor dog was still whelping and in pain. She [the owner] was on Facebook live selling raffle tickets to win a puppy at £20 each … sick.”A spokeswoman for Meta, the parents company of Facebook, told The Times they do not allow the sale of animals on their platforms and “we remove this content as soon as we become aware of it”.They said: “We encourage our community to report any content they think may violate our policies using the reporting tool in our app.”

In a survey of Pets4Homes users, 16 per cent said they had seen puppies advertised as “raffle prizes” on social media.

The pet website said it bans any puppies being shown as festive gifts, which can include the wording of adverts describing puppies as presents and any images of puppies wrapped in tinsel, near Christmas trees and lights, or photographed in present boxes.

They have created a dedicated workforce to police their own site for illegal puppy sales, as well as employing artificial intelligence tools and image-matching technology to identify sellers.So far this year they have shut down 2,300 unscrupulous adverts offering puppies as Christmas presents.

The AI tool can see if any images of puppies have previously appeared on the internet, which is often a giveaway of potential fraud or attempts to trick buyers into buying puppies that don’t exist.

The technology is instrumental in identifying other important factors, such as cropped ears, banned breeds, unclear or outdated images of puppies and kittens without an image of their parents and incorrect categorisation of pet type or breed, to guarantee the welfare of the animals involved.

The AI tool can also identify the IP address of accounts, so if a poster is saying they are selling puppies in Essex, but have an IP address in Romania or Albania, this is also revealed.

International gangs often sell unethically-bred puppies or simply defraud online customers with false offers.

During the Covid-19 lockdowns Pets4Homes shut down 40,000 adverts inside five months which they considered suspicious or unethical.

Axel Lagercrantz, the chief executive of Pets4Homes, said: “The decision to bring a puppy into a home should be a well-considered and planned choice, made with full awareness of the responsibilities and commitments involved in caring for a pet.“Rather than a surprise gift, it’s better to involve the recipient in the process and ensure they are fully prepared for the responsibilities of pet ownership.

“Pet abandonment persists every January as buyers realise they have neither the time nor the funds to properly care for puppies bought as unwise Christmas gifts. Pets do not make good presents.”