Dog Search Scammers

Recent Facebook dog search posts have showed the full horror of fake SAR scams. These parasites create NOISE which distracts and confuses when owners just need to identify the genuine, local SAR team that can help bring their dog home.

We share a few screenshots taken from a recent, successful search for a dog called Poppy, but the names aren’t that important. The names will change; it’s the characteristics that matter.

A large number of scam dog search teams will be American, and often on Instagram too. There is NO satellite tech that can find your dog from ANY distance. These scammers will maybe hijack posts from genuine teams, or use real people’s profiles for their scams. Their words tend to be very general, and often appear on ‘dog FOUND’ posts in error, as their algorithms just pick up on key words.

So, everyone, please, work out who is LOCAL to you, and who is genuine. Click on profiles and see if they have actually, themselves, recovered lost dogs in YOUR area. Sharing groups and community groups are genuine in their goal, to raise awareness, and this serves a very useful function, but be aware of their purpose. Always post on DogLost before sharing that to your community groups. They are no substitute for people can actually HELP, and every hour counts when your dog is missing.

In our area, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in Dorset, we would endorse:

·     

·      DogLost Dorset [Janice Price]

·      Jenny Wright [DogLost Hampshire]

·      Eye In the Sky Drones [Dave Rimmer]

·      Drone SAR For Lost Dogs UK

·      Lost Dog Recovery UK South [though they operate Hampshire and East their advice is great]

Some steps to spotting a fake:

• The wording is very generic, such as; “Hey, these guys brought my dog home just the other day,” Or they will ask for specific locations, when you’ve already stated where the incident happened.

• Click on their profile. Check their location; if it’s not local to you, ignore them.

• Do they have UK Canine search 'friends' on Facebook, such as DogLost? If none, be suspicious.

• Check how old their profile is; it may be very new, in which case, be wary.

• If it seems genuine, it probably won’t be a Canine SAR person anyway. It’ll be cloned or hijacked by the scammer. They may even have ‘reunited’ posts that they’ve stolen from genuine profiles. Copying and pirating genuine posts is a common ruse.

• They want to take messaging away from Facebook, which should be done for sensitive search information with a genuine SAR team, but be wary.

• If they offer ‘satellite search’ or any long-distance tracking, it’s fake, no question.

• If they ask for money, avoid them.

• Experienced people will point them out on the post!

• The cruellest of all are people that phone claiming to have your dog, or worse. Insist send photos or use WhatsApp video to prove it. If they refuse to meet you at a vet surgery, ring off and report them to DogLost to report to their police liaison. Reports CAN and do lead to conviction.

See our blog post on BEING PREPARED in case your dog is ever missing.