PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia animal control officials have warned the public of a scam aimed at people with missing pets.
Recently, Gucci, a dog adopted from ACCT Philly, slipped out of his leash while chasing a squirrel. To help find Gucci, ACCT created a dedicated Google Voice number to receive tips via phone and text.
“Within 24 hours of putting up this post about this dog and saying, 'Text or call with any sightings,' we had a bunch of people reaching out and saying, ‘Hey, I have your dog, I found it. It's here,’” said Sarah Barnett, ACCT Philly executive director.
“We'd say, ‘Great, where is it? We'll come and get it right now.’ And they would say, ‘Yeah, just, I have to make sure that you're safe, so therefore I have to text you a code and you need to tell me what the code is.’”
The scammer attempted to trick the animal control team into providing verification codes, which were actually Google Voice codes. If shared, the codes could have been utilized to create new Google Voice accounts linked to the organization's number.
ACCT also received texts from people using other Google Voice numbers pretending to be animal control officers. The senders said they located a lost pet and that money was required to have the animal released.
"They were texting us that they were animal control, not knowing we were animal control really, saying, ‘I'm actually an animal control officer and I found your dog.’” said Barnett. “‘Oh, what's your name? Oh, that's funny because we are actually animal control and we don't have an employee by that name.’"
ACCT says reputable organizations or individuals will not demand payment upfront to return a lost pet and that people should generally avoid sending money, verification codes or sensitive information to strangers.
Fortunately, according to ACCT, Gucci was found and is safe.