When someone loses a pet, they’re willing to do anything to try and get it back, including putting their information out there publicly and online. Beware, scammers could use that information to try and get your money.
“We really love her, and are learning to be cat parents, slowly but surely,” cat owner Meredith Peters said.
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WATCH HEREPeters and her husband have had their cat named Yogi for about a year. Recently, Yogi got lost.
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SIGN UP “Then I made a couple of posts on the Nextdoor app, and I think I did like a Reddit post as well for our Uptown area, just letting people know that to look out for her, and if they saw her, to call my husband's number,” Peters said.
They did get a call, but it was a scam.
“They said they were from the Humane Society of North Texas, which we were immediately a little unsure about, because we live here in downtown Dallas, and that's in nearly Fort Worth,” Peters said. “So, we were uncertain about the location.”
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Her suspicions were right. The Humane Society of North Texas said they never make calls like this.
“There is not a shelter in the world that is going to reach out to you and tell you that you have to send money to save your pet's life,” Humane Society of North Texas Senior Director of Marketing Communications said.
Peters' caller said Yogi was hit by a car and needed emergency surgery. Working in cybersecurity, Peters knew this wasn't right.
“It was $2,800 total,” Peters said. “But we had to pay $1,000 up front. Also, the options they provided were very much a red flag. No vet is going to ask you to pay via Zelle or Venmo. There's definitely a much more authenticated method, like methods for them to do that.”
The Humane Society is warning pet owners to be aware and stay alert.
“Our advice would be, please disconnect, hang up,” Davidson said. “If they tell you that they're with a certain shelter, look that shelter up online and make a phone call directly to that shelter.”
Peters said taking precautions could save you from more emotional grief.
“We were really annoyed and upset because it was a waste of our time, and it was really frustrating to have to walk through that emotionally, when we were already so nervous about our cat and sad about our cat that we had to then be like tricked by these people,” Peters said.
