When your pet goes missing, panic sets in fast. You post in every group you can find. You log into every profile you and your family own just to spread the word. And you should—reach matters.

But the more visibility your post gets, the more likely it is to land in front of the wrong people.

Because while most who share and comment want to help, a growing number of scammers are watching. They know what you’re going through. They’ve seen it before. And they’re ready to exploit it.

It Starts with Hope…

The first scam usually arrives as a comment:

“Try Pet Finder Recovery. They helped me find my dog in just hours!”

It looks helpful. But it’s fake—part of a copy-paste scam spread by fake accounts across dozens of lost pet posts every day. They want you to click a link or contact a “rescuer” who’s standing by with a payment request.

And once you’ve shared your post across multiple pages and profiles, you’ve dramatically widened the risk. Scammers thrive on that visibility—they’re trolling lost pet content 24/7.

Then Come the Texts and Calls

If you included your phone number in the post, expect direct messages. One of the most common scam scripts goes like this:

“My neighbor has your dog. Her name is Ashley. My husband gave her $60 for dog food. We can give you her address, but she wants to be repaid first.”

They won’t send photos. They’ll avoid real questions. And they’ll press for quick payment—usually through Cash App or Apple Pay.

Some scams go even further. One of our team members got a 2 a.m. call from someone claiming to have found a dog injured on I-77. It was believable—until the caller shouted, “Deez nuts!” and hung up.

Had that call gone to a grieving pet owner instead of us, it could’ve been devastating.

How Do They Find You So Fast?

This isn’t random.

Scammers use Facebook’s public post filters and keyword searches like “lost dog” and “missing cat”
They monitor Craigslist and local Facebook groups for high-traffic lost pet posts
If a phone number is visible, it’s fed into automated texting tools and spoofing apps
Their fake profiles flood the comments with the same scam links and miracle recovery stories
The more times your post is shared, the more likely it lands in their sights

Their goal is to catch you when you’re most vulnerable—within the first few hours of panic.

What PSA Is Doing to Protect You

At Pet Search Alliance, our focus is on recovery and protection. We are a community-driven organization committed to safeguarding families from emotional manipulation, financial scams, and misinformation while actively assisting in recovery efforts.

Here’s what we do:

Provide a “local” secure VoIP phone line so families never have to post personal numbers online
Offer twice-daily check-ins and a direct response team to monitor case developments
Deploy Vosker- cellular trail cameras with private live viewing access for families
Organize boots-on-the-ground volunteers for flyer distribution, trap setup, and local support
Maintain a verified support network of people you can trust—not anonymous internet profiles
Actively document and expose scam messages and fake accounts to warn the public

We call this our dome of protection. It surrounds the family so they can focus on their pet—not on fending off predators.

How Your Donations Go to Work

Your support helps us:

Maintain secure communications and monitoring systems
Print flyers and deploy trail cameras and traps
Distribute warning materials about scam patterns
Train and equip volunteers in safe, effective response tactics
Provide ongoing education through case studies, blogs, and community updates

Every bit of support makes a difference—whether it’s a donation, a shared post, a comment, or simply following our page. By staying engaged, you help amplify the right voices and drown out the scams. And if you want to stay informed on cases, progress, and protection tips, sign up for our quarterly newsletter at petsearchalliance.org.

Fighting Back: Exposing the Scam

We’re not sitting on the sidelines.

We are actively collecting screenshots, scam scripts, and contact logs. We are issuing official public notices and plan to release a comprehensive warning report outlining how these scams work, who is behind them, and how to shut them down.

We’ve also begun boosting our official Facebook posts as a business page, which allows us to target specific ZIP codes with verified updates—keeping local awareness high and limiting scammer access.

And for any pet missing more than 14 days with no confirmed sighting, we build a dedicated case page on our website and a QR code for print, so updates are centralized, trackable, and not hijacked by bad actors.

We are reclaiming the recovery process—and making it scam-proof.

Join Us

We’ve taken the prank calls. We’ve answered the fake texts. And we’ve stood between vulnerable families and the people trying to exploit their pain.

Let us do the same for you.

Visit petsearchalliance.org to report a case, donate, volunteer, or start a PSA chapter in your area.

We’re not just helping people find their pets.
We’re building a wall between hope and heartbreak.

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