San Francisco animal shelter warns of scam targeting pet owners
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — San Francisco Animal Care and Control is cautioning the community of a scam that preys on people searching for lost pets. The alert comes months after Oakland Animal Services gave pet owners a similar warning.
In the scam, a person who pretends to be staff of the San Francisco Animal Care and Control calls pet owners who are searching for their lost pets. The scammer then demands money in return for the lost pet.
“Our staff will never call/email to demand any payment for the return of a lost pet,” SFACC said in a post on X. “We’ve had problems with people pretending to be our staff calling lost pet owners and asking for $.”
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The animal shelter said that if you get a call or email from a scammer, contact SFACC at (415)-554-6364.
In October, Oakland Animal Services said a person who claimed to be an employee was contacting people and telling them their lost animal had been found but was severely injured. The scammer would then ask people to pay a large fee for medical bills.
The Oakland shelter said that if it were to contact a pet owner about a lost pet, the owner would be asked to come to one of their facilities to confirm the animal was theirs. “This is a scam. OAS would never ask for money over the phone,” the agency said in a news release at that time.
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