Staff at the Humane Society of Sedona received a phone call on Aug. 9 from a resident inquiring about how to make a payment of $1,200 for emergency surgery on their missing cat. 

“We were confused because we didn’t, to our knowledge, have an injured cat,” HSS Executive Director Jennifer Brehler said. 

Later that evening, Brehler continued, “I was up front with another employee and a man and woman pounded on the window, and we opened it up. They were not in panic, but pretty urgent. They got a very similar phone call … and the [scammer] was saying, ‘Your animal came into the Humane Society of Sedona. It’s severely injured. We need to do surgery right away, but you need to give us $1,700 before we can start surgery. And if we don’t do surgery, your dog’s going to die.’” 

In both cases, the scammer refused to arrange a viewing of the allegedly injured animal. 

“They’re preying on people who have broken hearts and they’re missing their pets,” Brehler said. Humane Society staff suspect that the scammers are using lost pet reports posted on social media to find their targets’ phone numbers. The Society has since issued a public alert warning others of the scam. 

“We here at the Humane Society of Sedona will never contact you and demand money if your lost pet is brought to us. Returning lost pets to their families is a big part of what we do,” HSS posted on Facebook. 

“We want to keep pets and families together and we would never demand money or not allow you to see or identify your pet.” “We always encourage people, first and foremost, come down [to] verify this is your animal,” Brehler said. “Then at that time, we can handle any fees that may be involved or any medical care that needs to be paid for, not over the phone, not sight unseen.” If an injured animal was brought into HSS and needed immediate surgery, HSS policy calls for contacting the owner if possible, but they would still proceed with whatever medical care staff had determined to be necessary until the owner could be found. 

HSS does charge a reclaim fee and an overnight boarding fee for returning lost pets, which Brehler said is “usually around $100 or less, unless they’ve been with us for weeks on end. But that rarely ever happens. And again, that’s something that we would work with them and talk to them when they’re physically here.” 

“We should have gotten [the targets’] information at the time,” Brehler said. “We were just so shocked and everything happened, and next thing I know, the gentleman drove away … So unfortunately, that was one I wish we would have done. The person who called earlier in the day, they didn’t think to get their information, either.” 

Brehler said that she was unaware of any similar incidents involving other local organizations and the Sedona Police Department, Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office and Verde Valley Humane Society were likewise unaware of any similar scams as of Aug. 12. 

“It’s traumatic enough to lose your pet and then have somebody prey on you and try and take money away from you,” Brehler said. “How terrible it is that somebody would prey on people that are missing their pets?” 

Warning signs of a lost pet scam according to the FBI El Paso office can include: 

* Refusing to provide photos after claiming a pet has been found 

* Sending an edited version of a previously posted picture of a lost animal with minor changes such as changing the background or darkening the image 

* Making threats against an animal or owner 

* Making excuses about an inability to provide better photos 

* Asking for money before allowing the owners to see the animal 

* Asking for sensitive information such as a Google verification code 

Individuals who have received any similar calls can report them to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at IC3.gov or contact Ron Norfleet at the YCSO Fraud Unit at (928) 771-3299