LAKEWOOD, Ohio (WJW) — Another day, another way to scam people. This time, the Better Business Bureau is warning pet owners to be careful if they lose beloved Fido, as some may try and profit from their anguish.
The BBB said an attempted scam recently happened to a Lakewood woman who had posted to a missing pet message board. She said that within minutes of posting about her missing dog, she received a text message from a California number saying the animal had been found.
The scammers asked “if they could send a 6-digit code to verify it was my dog and then they would return it,” the BBB said in a statement.
The message and subsequent phone call, which she didn’t answer, seemed fishy so she reportedly did not engage. The woman later did recover her dog from another source, the BBB said.
However, the BBB said the scams are not uncommon, explaining that the 6-digit code would have been used to take the victim’s phone number and turn it into a Google Voice account.
The BBB offered a number of other ways to remain vigilant while searching for a beloved pet:
- Choose to share only limited information in any online posts. This way you can confirm a small detail about your pet that only someone who found the animal would know.
- Watch for red flags. Many scammers ask you to wire money or send gift cards. Some also become defensive when owners ask to be shown a photo of the pet in their possession. If it feels off, listen to your gut.
- Only retrieve your missing pet in a safe area.
- Is it a spoofed local number? Beware of those.
- Make it easy on yourself and microchip your pet.
Find out more about pet scams and report your BBB.org/ScamTracker.
