Fraudsters target people looking for lost companions by pairing manipulated pictures with believable backstories to claim the animals have been recovered. Victims in Birmingham, Wednesbury, and Northampton experienced escalating demands ranging from gift cards to a £40,000 transfer, along with abusive messages and threats to kill their cats. All three incidents were submitted to Report Fraud, an agency managed by the City of London Police. Authorities and specialists urge the public to verify animals in person and avoid transferring funds out of manufactured urgency.
Key points
Perpetrators combine artificial intelligence imagery with abusive messages and death thre…: Perpetrators combine artificial intelligence imagery with abusive messages and death threats against missing pets to extort payments.
Specialists emphasize that modern artificial intelligence tools have made generating dece…: Specialists emphasize that modern artificial intelligence tools have made generating deceptive pet images free, simple, and widely accessible.
Pet owners are strongly advised to view their animals in person before handing over any m…: Pet owners are strongly advised to view their animals in person before handing over any money or gift cards.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
- Published
When Stephanie Young's cat Buddy went missing from her garden in September last year, she flooded pet rescue sites and social media groups with information about him.
Her hopes were raised when an image of him was sent through by a woman named Melissa, who claimed to have fed her cat and wanted reward money for her autistic grandchildren.
The foster carer from Birmingham was "100% certain" she had found her cat and remembered thinking Buddy had picked a lovely garden to sit in as she got money out of the bank to pay for his return.
Within hours, she had agreed to meet Melissa nearby to collect him, but the individual never turned up, refused a cash payment and pushed for 100 Apple gift cards as a reward.
Threats to "sell or murder" her pet soon followed when she discovered the images of Buddy were AI-generated and questioned the woman's authenticity.
Young is one of a growing number of people affected by an online scam where fraudsters threaten to kill missing pets after owners refuse to pay…
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