HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A number of callers to the Huntsville Animal Services have reported scam phone calls coming from a local number with a 256-area code.
On the call, the scammers identify themselves as an employee with the HAS, and they say they have your missing pet. The scammers then ask for payment over the phone before you can come and get your animal.
But when you get to the HAS website, staff there say they haven't ever seen your pet.
Program supervisor Lauren Anders with HAS said the scammers are getting victims' information from the lost-and-found Facebook page.
"They went on the Facebook page and saw that someone had a brown tabby missing, for example, and then they would call and say, 'We have your animal. It's at Huntsville Animal Services.' But these are animals we actually do not have in the building, and we've never seen. And they're still lost," Anders says.
Anders added that the information people post online is part of the ammunition scammers have in their arsenal.
"A lot of owners put out their own personal information, and they're desperately trying to get their pets back," Anders said. "So, it's a good way for scammers to reach out and get [people's] information and know that they have their animals missing."
Anders said HAS will never ask for payment over the phone.
If you're called by someone saying they're an HAS employee, Anders said to hang up on them and call them directly to verify who's on the other end of the phone.
For more information or to give HAS a tip, give them a call at 256-883-3782.