Pet Scams

Fraudsters look to exploit people’s love for animals to steal their personal information or money. Below are several scams they have tried:

They may pose as a breeder on social media trying to sell puppies or kittens using stolen or AI created images. The price is very cheap compared to real breeders, but they want you to act fast.
They may pose as a police officer or animal hospital staff, claiming your missing pet needs emergency care, and ask you to send money. They may use flyer details, social media, or fake AI images of your pet to fool you.
They may pretend to be animal shelter staff asking for donations, using fake pages and stolen or AI-made pet images.
They may claim you won a prize because of past donations you made to help animals. The name of the prize or organization may appear to be real.

Check a breeder online to see if they are linked to scams or poor reviews.
If someone says that the only way to pay for your pet’s treatment is a gift card, payment app, cryptocurrency, or wire, refuse to do so. Fraudsters love these options because getting your money back is unlikely.
Check if an image has been stolen or created by AI. Use an online AI detector to find out if an AI created an image of your pet or other animal.
Check if a charity that helps animals is real. Go to our Charity Scams page for more information.
If you won a prize but have to make a payment first (because of taxes or processing fee for example), the contest is a scam. Go to our Sweepstakes Scams page for more information.

Take the following actions right away:

Notify your bank or credit union if you find withdrawals you did not make.
Gather information on who contacted you, how, what you were told to do, who they were with, and why the interaction seems suspicious.
File a complaint with the FTC at https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/.

To see an example of this scam, watch this video from 10 Tampa Bay News: