08/17/2026
We do not use Zelle as a payment service, if the scammers come for us next.
🚨 **SCAM ALERT: PLEASE READ & SHARE** 🚨
We want to make our community aware of a very convincing scam currently targeting pet owners and yesterday, it involved someone impersonating Bend Animal Emergency & Specialty Center.
A pet owner came to our hospital after receiving a phone call that appeared to come from our clinic’s phone number. The caller told him that his missing cat had suffered a traumatic event, had been brought to our hospital, and was currently undergoing emergency surgery.
The scammers then transferred him to another person and demanded immediate payment through Zelle in order to continue treatment.
What made this even more convincing and frightening was that they sent him an AI-generated image of his cat “in surgery.” The image looked remarkably like his missing cat, including his markings.
Thankfully, he became suspicious when they requested payment through Zelle. He hung up and came directly to our hospital, where we were able to confirm that his cat was not at our facility and the call had not come from our team.
His cat had previously been posted online as missing, which may be how the scammers obtained a photo and information to make their story so convincing.
⚠️ **PLEASE KNOW:**
Bend Animal Emergency & Specialty Center will NEVER request payment through Zelle, Venmo, Cash App, PayPal, or similar peer-to-peer payment services.
We also have established protocols for stray or lost animals brought to us in critical condition by Good Samaritans. We will never pressure someone into immediately sending money through a third-party payment app in order for us to provide emergency care.
If you ever receive a call claiming to be from our hospital and something does not feel right, hang up and call us directly using our publicly listed phone number. Even if the incoming call appears to show our number, caller ID can be spoofed.
Please share this with other pet owners , particularly anyone who currently has a missing pet posted online. These scammers are using an incredibly vulnerable and frightening situation to target people, and AI-generated images can make the story feel very real.
If you have a missing pet, please also be cautious about how much personal information you share publicly.
The image attached to this post is the AI-generated image the scammer sent to the pet owner. It is NOT an actual patient or procedure at our hospital.
