Weather 
PALMDALE, Calif. () — For many families, pets are beloved companions. But when a pet goes missing, owners can become targets for scammers seeking to profit from their desperation.
Jessica Maddin has spent weeks searching Palmdale for her missing Siamese cat, Ahsoka. Since the cat disappeared, Maddin has canvassed neighborhoods, posted flyers and shared notices online in hopes of bringing her pet home.
Instead, she said, many of the responses she received appeared to come from scammers.
“We started getting a lot of calls and text messages from people that were scammers,” Maddin said.
According to Maddin, several people claimed to know Ahsoka’s whereabouts but demanded money in exchange for information.
“There was one that said her boyfriend had picked her up and she was starving in his house, but she would only give us information if we paid them money,” Maddin said.
Maddin said one person even sent what appeared to be an AI-generated image of Ahsoka and directed her to a local parking lot, promising a reunion with her cat.
“We drove all the way to Walmart and then once we said we were there, they started demanding money,” she said.
Maddin also said she encountered several pet recovery drone services promoted on social media that raised concerns.
“There’s no phone number, there’s no website. They’ve been around maybe two months and some of them claiming they’ve reunited 800 pets with their owners and they don’t even have like an area,” Maddin said.
She said every message claiming to have found Ahsoka eventually led to requests for digital payments before she could verify the cat’s identity in person.
Gema de las Heras of the Federal Trade Commission said scammers often exploit the emotions of people searching for missing pets.
“If you pay, you end up losing your money and you’re likely never going to see that pet,” de las Heras said.
De las Heras said people looking for lost pets can be especially vulnerable to imposter scams, which she described as the FTC’s largest fraud category.
“Last year alone, there was $3.5 billion in reported losses, so it is a big problem,” she said.
The FBI has also warned pet owners to be cautious when dealing with people who claim to have found a missing animal. Warning signs can include an inability to provide new photos of the pet, threats regarding the animal’s well-being, excuses for why the pet cannot be seen in person, and requests for money or sensitive information.
“Try to meet in person, don’t send any money over the internet … and if something seems to be too good to be true online, it usually is,” FBI Agent Leroy Shelton said.
Maddin said she did not send money to any of the people who contacted her, but she worries others searching for missing pets may not be so fortunate.
“I’ve been such a mess since she went missing and I just want to bring her home,” Maddin said.
As her search for Ahsoka continues, Maddin hopes sharing her experience will help others avoid becoming victims.
“We can hopefully spare some people pain of getting scammed when they’re trying to bring their little, loved pets home,” she said.
© 2026 Television,
