LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — After a tornado ripped through parts of Central Arkansas on March 31, many organizations including Friends of the Animal Village have been doing what they can for those impacted— but their focus has been on pets.
“Just yesterday, the demolition team at apartments on Napa Valley Drive in Little Rock found a dog in an apartment closet alive and well,” said spokesperson for Friends of the Animal Village, Betsy Robb.
Robb shared that luckily, they were able to reunite the dog with their family and that’s something they hope to continue doing for others.
“Things like microchips and Facebook make that a lot easier,” Robb added.
Although social media has been a big help, it’s also the most common place for scammers to take advantage of people who are just trying to help.
"It’s really sad because these scammers, they depend on people being kindhearted and emotionally vulnerable,” said Robb.
She also said that it's important to be vigilant because what scammers have been posting look like typical lost and found posts.
“Saying you know I found this dog he was just hit by a car. I've gotten him checked at the vet for a microchip and he's not chipped, I know his family's missing him, please share to bump this post,” Robb explained.
With these scams on the rise, there's a higher chance that a lot of lost and found pet posts are not real. Robb said the posts could lead to viruses or just trying to collect your information.
“They get you to share them hundreds of times and until it racks up enough shares and then they completely edit all of the content, the photo, and the caption to the real scam,” she described.
There are two things Robb said are very important and you want to be on the lookout for. The first is checking to see if you can comment.
“Comments are turned off on the original posts, you click on the picture in the original post, and you can't comment on it that's your first red flag,” said Robb.
Secondly, is checking to see if the profile belongs to a real person?
“If you go and look at that profile, it's not a profile, it's a business page and it'll have a category like a grocery store, but have an individual's name on it and it'll have no activity,” said Robb.
She explained that people should be sure not to share just any post without checking for those signs. If you happen to find a lost pet, she advises taking the animal to a vet to see if it has a microchip.
For more information on how to find pets who were lost because of the tornado, please click here.