MASSENA -- Police are looking into the source of a potentially fraudulent ad that appeared on NorthCountryNow.com and in North Country This Week.

It has been pulled from the website but was printed in the Canton-Potsdam paper before newspaper staff were made aware of its potentially fraudulent nature.

The ad seeks "full-time companion care" for an 80-year-old asthmatic man. It offers to pay $25 per hour from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Staff at North Country This Week said the ad was taken off of NorthCountryNow.com on Monday after having received several complaints from people who had responded to it. One person told the paper's staff that they emailed back-and-forth with a man in Lexington, N.Y. and told them the town was too far away. But the person who posted the ad said not to worry, the 80-year-old lived near them in Massena.

The person making the complaint said they had not revealed they lived in Massena. After going to check out the address, they found a vacant rental property. A second person who complained about the ad said they had also been sent to the empty house and told they would have to pick up the elderly man on a specific date at Massena International Airport.

Massena Police said the officer who is looking into the ad was not available until later in the day.