Animal shelters warn that scammers are creating fake social media accounts to solicit donations from animal lovers by using stolen photos and videos of sick and abused pets.
Watch Carli Petrus’s video report:
Fake animal rescue accounts on social media steal photos to solicit donations
These fraudulent accounts are stealing content from legitimate animal shelters and rescues, creating emotional appeals with images of animals in need to trick well-meaning donors.
“It’s just all sad stories that are on their pages, and it’s all for money that should not be going to them,” said Michelle Eastlake with Friends of Michigan Animals Rescue in Belleville.
Eastlake discovered her organization was being impersonated when a supporter notified them about an Instagram page using their logo and a similar name.
“It hasn’t really affected us in a way we know of until just recently, with this Instagram post that one of our supporters actually notified us on Sunday about that there was a page out there using our logo and a very similar name,” Eastlake said…