Local online adverts are offering tigers, cheetahs and other exotic animals for sale but they may be scams done by overseas fraudsters, animal welfare director Joseph John Vella has cautioned.

A posting on shopping website Malta Park advertised the sale of Bengal kittens, cheetahs and tiger cubs at €1,200.

The advert is suspicious: the telephone number given is unusual and on dialling the first two digits, 45, the line goes busy.

This paper also tried to “contact seller” through the website’s option but received no reply.

The price is also unrealistic since, Mr Vella said, such tigers and cubs sell for at least €30,000.

Clicking on the icon “other items from this seller” reveals another 10 posts including for parrot eggs and healthy parrots, steroids and weight-loss pills, and medical marijuana – all having false contact numbers.

A Google search of the photo of tiger cubs accompanying the advert reveals that the photo was used for similar adverts in the US.

The photograph also pops up on a picture page of the reputable news website theguardian.com that, in April 2013, credited the image to Tobu Zoo Park/EPA and wrote that the four white tiger cubs were born in March that year at Tobu Zoo Park in Miyashiro, Japan.

Mr Vella said that, unfortunately, it was very difficult to track down the origin of these adverts that might have one of two motives: posted for fun, or posted in the hope that an interested buyer contacts the scammer and makes a payment while getting nothing in return.

He added that, last year, the Animal Welfare Department looked into a series of adverts for the sale of monkeys that were listed on Malta Park and found that nine of 10 adverts originated from Africa.

Only one was local and it turned out to be false and created “just for a laugh”.

He said that if, for the sake of argument, searches revealed that the tigers or exotic animals were really for sale, a buyer would first have to obtain a permit from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), through the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

The Malta Park website cautions people to “never ever” pay by wire transfer when dealing with foreign sellers and also allows viewers to report abuse.

Times of Malta contacted Malta Park, through its website, and asked what measures were in place to ensure there were no illegalities.

No replies were received by the time of writing.