SUMMIT COUNTY, OHIO—Summit County Animal Control staff was recently alerted to a text message scam targeting Summit County residents. Scammers are “spoofing” Animal Control’s phone number, 330-643-2845, to send texts to individuals. The term “spoofing” refers to when scammers imitate a real phone number to deceive individuals into thinking they are being contacted by a person, business, or institution. These scam texts inform residents that they have “lost their pet” and must send a payment to redeem the animal. Please do not respond to these texts and do not send payments through any payment apps. Animal Control has never accepted payments over the phone or through any payment app, such as Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, etc. Any individual needing to redeem their pet from Animal Control will be asked to pay the redemption fee, in person, at the facility.
If you or someone you know has been targeted by this scam, please report it to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office at https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/about-AG/contact/report-a-scam or 800-282-0515.
To contact Animal Control, please call 330-643-2845.
