Anyone might have fallen for it.
A text arrives from a stranger who claims to have found a missing pet. The image of the pet looks real, but something seems off about the conversation you’re having with the person behind the unknown number.
That was the experience of at least one Belmont resident recently, according to Animal Control Officer Suzanne Trasavage.
“I almost fell for it, and the more I thought about it, the more I thought, ‘This can’t be correct,’” Trasavage said. “We talked it through, and I asked her the behavior of the cat that was missing and would he gladly just lie in a carrier like that with the door open… The more we talked about it, the more apparent it was definitely a scam.”
Based on screenshots posted to the Belmont Animal Control Officer Facebook page, an unknown number reached out to a resident about her missing cat, Berry. Using artificial intelligence (AI), the scammer generated an image of the missing cat sitting in a carrier, then sent a text to the phone number of the person who was missing their cat, and offered to return the cat for a financial reward through a mobile payment app (such as Venmo, Zelle, Cash App). When the resident refused to pay by any means other than cash and mentioned involving police, the scammer ended the text exchange and refused to return the pet.
The missing cat, Berry, returned home a few days later, according to Trasavage.
Unfortunately, this resident’s experience wasn’t unique.
“There’s a bunch of people coming forward,” Trasavage said, referring to comments on the Facebook post. Several people — not all of whom are necessarily in Belmont — said they received the same types of messages from the same phone number.
Trasavage said that while she’s dealt with other types of scams in her decade of experience in animal control, this is the first time she’s seen AI images used to scam residents into thinking someone has found their lost pet.
“That’s why I urge people to contact us directly and don’t put up your fliers right away,” she said. “Don’t use your own phone number; you can use the phone number for the town.”
Essentially, avoid putting all personal details, including a street address, on missing pet posters-– in print or online.
“I think over the years we’ve realized there are people out there that are looking to scam, so to protect everyone involved we keep it as brief as possible and use our number,” Trasavage said.
