The San Diego Humane Society is warning people about a scam targeting the owners of lost pets.
“We were made aware of calls to pet owners who lost their pets of people who are pretending to be San Diego Humane Society asking for money sent through both Cash App and Zelle to reclaim their pet and we want people to know that is not the San Diego Humane Society,” San Diego Humane Society Marketing Manager, Jordan Frey said.
The calls often come from blocked numbers or in some cases the scammers are able to replicate their main number, so it appears that the San Diego Humane Society is calling, according to the organization.
“We would never ask someone for payment over the phone or email. We conduct our reclaims of lost pets in-person and we do not accept any payment except for in-person when that’s happening,” Frey said.
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The organization is now spreading the word about the scam to help people avoid falling for it.
“To fight back against these scams we are putting as much information out in the community as we can. We post on our social media and add information about these scams to our website to hopefully help people just be more aware of what’s going on and not fall victim to this,” Frey said.
It remains to be seen how many people have fallen victim to scams in the San Diego area.
To avoid falling victim to a lost pet scam the Better Business Bureau recommends doing the following:
- Limit the information in your social posts
- Watch for spoofed numbers
- Ask for a photo
- Never wire money or use a prepaid debit card
- Microchip and/or ID tag your pet
- Call the police
