HARPER WOODS, Mich. (WXYZ) — A disturbing scam is sweeping across social media, targeting people desperate to find their lost pets. Scammers are contacting owners of missing dogs and demanding ransom payments, while pretending to be from legitimate animal welfare organizations.
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The Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society has issued a warning after discovering scammers are impersonating their organization to extort money from worried pet owners.
"This is the perfect storm," said Corinne Martin from the Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society.
The scam calls started earlier this week, with at least three people searching for their lost dogs being targeted. One man from Grosse Pointe Woods, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of being targeted again, began posting pictures of his lost dog Koko to social media.
"The following morning, midday, not hearing anything, not finding Koko, it was pretty apparent that we weren't going to find her without people's help," the resident said.
Like most pet owners, he included his cell phone number on the posting for PawBoost, a website for missing dogs. He received a call Wednesday from a number that appeared to be from the Grosse Pointe Animal Adoption Society, which immediately raised concerns.
"They had a name for this woman, a location where they found the dog, and that Koko had been struck by a car," he said.
The scammers demanded he use Cash App to send them $400 as partial payment for veterinary emergency care.
"They're very intelligent. It's a well-thought-out scam," the Grosse Pointe Woods resident said.
Martin explained why the scam was so convincing: "It made perfect sense. We're local, we had the dog, it was probably injured, and we were going to do surgery, which made sense to him."
Thankfully, Koko's owner hung up and called the shelter directly, only to find out it wasn't actually them who called. They didn't have Koko, and it was a scam.
"The dog is still missing. It's microchipped, it's got ID on it. We don't know where the dog is," Martin said.
According to Martin, the scammers are finding photos of lost pets whose owners have posted their personal phone numbers, and they're calling those owners demanding money. They're also spoofing her organization's phone number, making it appear as if the call is legitimate.
"They've cloned our phone number, so the calls are coming from our number. So the call indicates it's coming from Grosse Pointe Animal," Martin said.
The organization is now in touch with police regarding this scam targeting vulnerable pet owners.
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