Between 2020 and 2021, the number of pets adopted from animal shelters skyrocketed unlike any other year. Alas, 2022 was a dark year, with the highest number of animals returned to rescues, or simply abandoned. Animal rescues found themselves in a state of constant peril with so many animals to care for and donations dwindling, give the economic uncertainties of the last 2-3 years.
Before the pandemic, animal welfare was an issue that many people felt strongly about and acted on it. In the USA, in 2019, individuals donated approximately $6.75 billion to these animal welfare organizations, highlighting the importance that many people place on the welfare of animals.
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in animal welfare issues among younger generations, including millennials and Gen Z. These groups are more likely to consider animal welfare when making purchasing decisions and are more likely to support companies and brands that prioritize animal welfare. This trend has led to a proliferation of animal welfare certification programs, such as the Certified Humane and Animal Welfare Approved labels, which allow consumers to easily identify products that meet certain animal welfare standards.*
And concern for animal welfare has grown to exceptional highs amongst all age-groups since the pandemic. With so many appeals for help from genuine animal rescues, highlighting their plight dealing with so many returned dogs and cats, animal lovers all over the world opened their wallets to help.
That brought scammers out of the dark.
SCAMMERS : The Ugly Truth About Fake Animal Rescues on Social Media
Scammers are well aware of this trend and have taken aim to take advantage of this compassion and exploit it for their own personal gain. On the rise, in recent times, is the issue of fake animal rescues on social media. These scammers impersonate genuine animal welfare organizations and dupe kind-hearted people into donating money to them, which they then pocket for themselves.
Social media has made it easy to send a donation to animal rescues and charities. Unfortunately, this also makes it easier for scammers to pose as legitimate rescues and take advantage of people’s willingness to donate.
They create fake social media pages, websites, and even post fake rescue stories in order to appear credible. They may use heart-wrenching pictures and videos of animals in distress to pull at people’s heartstrings and prompt them to donate.
Most times, it’s even more audacious – why bother creating a fake appeal when you can simply copy appeals from genuine animal rescues? This is their preferred mode. Copy and paste the exact appeal, then simply add their own Paypal link. Done.
Here’s one of the many, many recent scams :
Original Post : https://twitter.com/s70706634/status/1631383637223415841
Here’s the original post :
Original Post : https://twitter.com/psa_pk/status/1547663797141118979
Here’s another scammer alert from TWS Pakistan :
Original Post : https://twitter.com/tws_pk2/status/1654436124683563010
And another right here :
Original post : https://twitter.com/tws_pk2/status/1655211270071517185
This is a never-ending nightmare for genuine animal rescues who lose out on those so needed funds.
To offset any trail, these scammers operate a number of accounts at the same time. If someone begins to question them, all they do is block the accuser and change the account name. Once done, they can continue to scam new donors within minutes.
If an account is reported, the scammer’s account disappears, leaving behind nothing but broken hearts and empty pockets. Not only do they harm the animals that are in genuine need of help, but they also undermine the work of legitimate rescues who are working tirelessly to help animals in need.
Original Post : https://twitter.com/tws_pk2/status/1655675020327243777
And fresh out of Facebook, here’s a good Samaritan putting out the alert on yet another scam. One of many per day!!
Some animal rescuers find themselves in the deep end with these scams. The Asher House is one of those who recently posted about this because real, kind-hearted people are getting scammed and hurt too.
But the evil does not stop there. The most disgusting, bottom of the barrel scammer goes too far. For years, people have been alerting fellow animal lovers for this crime – intentionally injuring animals for donations.
Here is one such alert from 2 years ago.
Fighting Back Against Fake Animal Rescues on Social Media: What You Can Do
So, what can we do to prevent falling victim to these scams?
Firstly, we should always be cautious when donating to unfamiliar organizations, especially those on social media. Before donating, it is important to do some research and check if the organization is legitimate.
1. Ask for references.
Always, always, always ask where the animal is located. A genuine rescuer will always be happy to provide this information. Whether at a shelter or a private foster home, every animal will have a reference for a veterinary clinic. Ask for this. And if none is provided, you’ve got your red flag!
2. Pay only to a verified Paypal account.
No genuine rescuer will provide an unverified Paypal account. Don’t fall for any mumbo-jumbo. An unverified Paypal account is a red flag.
3. Ask what country they are located in.
If you know what country this rescuer is in, find other local rescues for references. Can’t find anyone who can vouch? Red flag.
Genuine exceptions
There may be situations with genuine reasons for not having a Paypal verified account, for example. Or a sudden emergency occurs and people need urgent help.
When my 14 year-old foster dog fell from a substantial height while playing at the beach, I had to rush him to the vet. The cost of treating his broken leg was crazy and I had trouble putting all the money together from one day to another. I considered asking for donations. Luckily, I managed to scrape enough to pay the vet. But, what if I hadn’t had enough? What would I have done?
In emergency cases like this, though, the best possible way to help is to help connect the individual with a local animal rescue you know. Animal rescues will be able to visit the animal at the vet and find ways to help once the case is verified.
My recommendation is that all 3 of the questions I referenced above are satisfied to the fullest before you make a donation. But, if in doubt, hold back and try to find a good, solid answer for the other 2 queries.
Also, remember, there are many home fosters. These rescuers are private individuals who open their homes to save an animal in peril. They don’t run a shelter you can visit. They don’t have an official charity or registration. But, they do the work of angels. But these special humans are always keen to provide the answers to all 3 questions with no hesitation.
Home-based rescues or fosters will always be happy to provide the reference of the veterinary clinic they work with.
They will always use a payment gateway that has verified their identity. Indeed, if you are local, they will provide you with direct IBAN details of their personal bank account.
And, more often than not, they are very well known to the more official local charities for their work in saving animals in peril.
What can you do if you have already donated to a scammer?
If you have already fallen victim to a scammer, there are still a few options for you.
1. Spread the word like wildfire
Tell everyone you can think of. Take screenshots of the account. Follow the link to their payment gateway and copy that. Tag friends, family and genuine animal rescues you know and don’t know. It may be hard to get enough people’s attention to cause a storm, but don’t give up – leave comments and screenshots in the comments section of the more popular animal lover accounts, like Dodo or Geobeats, for example. There will always be people to help you spread the word.
2. Send a report to Paypal
Because of the sheer number of scams online, Paypal has become more counter-offensive to track down and shut down these scammers. Depending on how fast you act, you may get your money back. So, don’t give up trying.
3. Report the account to the social media support desk
Most reports are dealt with swiftly because it is in the platform’s interest to catch these scammers and throw them out.
4. Reach out to local authorities
Many countries have consumer protection agencies or fraud reporting hotlines that we can contact if we suspect that we have fallen victim to a scam or if we have information about a fraudulent organization.
5. Get loud on social media
We can always start trending a specific, to-the-point hashtag. How about #AnimalRescueScamAlert It’s easy to understand and will get attention from fellow animal lovers.
6. Talk to friends and family
We can spread awareness about this issue and encourage friends and family to be cautious when donating to animal rescues on social media. By sharing information about legitimate rescues and warning people about the dangers of fraudulent accounts, we can help prevent others from falling victim to these scams.
Fake animal rescues on social media are a growing problem that undermines the important work of legitimate animal welfare organizations. By working together and spreading awareness, we can help ensure that our donations go towards the care and well-being of animals in need, and not into the pockets of scammers.
How scammers are making money on YouTube from genuine animal rescues
There are a dozen accounts at this stage on YouTube doing it. These channels are not rescues, they do nothing for animal welfare and the videos they publish do not belong to them, nor do they have the copyright to use it. But they do. And they make 1000’s of dollars per month from each channel.
And each channel has 100’s of 1000’s of followers. It sucks.
Here’s just one example with over 100,000 followers.
https://youtube.com/@phyeatingasmr4721
Here’s another one, innocently claiming to have the best of intentions, while pocketing all the money for themselves :
https://www.youtube.com/@luckydogs200
(I won’t publish a live link to avoid giving these scammers even more fame!)
Every day I visit YouTube, I find a new one. I just discovered a new one. They are simply taking videos from, supposedly, real rescues to get people to buy stuff in their shop?? How are people following these accounts?
https://www.youtube.com/@PawsBlissHaven/videos
Notice how there is no reference to any rescue, contact, location anywhere. But their videos earn them 1000’s of dollars from YouTube.
Please do us all a favour and ASK them where these videos come from. If there is no reply, send a report to YouTube, so they can verify the copyright of the videos!
How KindBunch is fighting the scammers
Launching around Easter 2024, KindBunch is a not-for-profit platform that is raising money for homeless animals by building synergies with the business sector from all over the world.
To make sure we take down the scammers, we have made it our mission to protect the genuine ones. For this, we have created a special complaints desk where anyone can submit a report. So that when you find one of these a fake animal rescues, send us the details. We’ll track them down and take them down.
We’re also rolling out a simple verification system in our upcoming Appeals Directory where :
- We verify every single rescue and foster manually.
- We rely on the animal welfare community and the good reputation these rescues and fosters have built up over time.
It’s a simple and effective way to drown out the fake ones.
Our mission is to become a reference for verified genuine animal shelters and rescues, including private fosters, for the whole animal lover community to feel safe and assured that scammers will no longer hurt animals for a profit.
Learn more about our not-for-profit project and get to know KindBunch.
How you can help right now
Share the information with fellow animal lovers, friends and family. Knowledge is power. And the more people who take action against fake animal rescues, the faster we can get rid of them.
Share our article. Tag your friends. And get them to join us. Alone, we are weak. But, together, we can make change happen!
