SANDY, Utah — Police are warning of an ongoing scam involving people with lost pets making payments over the phone.
The Sandy Police Department posted to social media that a man claiming to be with Sandy City Animal Services, Sandy Animal Hospital, or something similar, is calling people who have posted missing cats online.
He then tells people that he has found the lost cat and requests payment over the phone.
Police warn that this is a scam and no reputable organization, including Sandy Animal Services, would request payment over the phone.
AARP gives the following "warning signs" of a phone scam:
- Unsolicited calls from people claiming to work for a government agency, public utility or major tech firm, like Microsoft or Apple. These companies and institutions will rarely call you unless they have first communicated by other means or you have contacted them.
- Unsolicited calls from charity fundraisers, especially during the holidays and after disasters.
- Calls pitching products or services with terms that sound too good to be true. Common scam offers include free product trials, cash prizes, cheap travel packages, medical devices, preapproved loans, debt reduction, and low-risk, high-return investments.
- An automated sales call from a company you have not authorized to contact you. That’s an illegal robocall and almost certainly a scam. (Automated calls are permitted for some informational or non-commercial purposes — for example, from political campaigns or nonprofit groups).
