Escambia Animal Welfare Warns Of Lost Pet Text Message Scam

September 25, 2025

The Escambia County Department of Animal Welfare is warning residents of scam text messages individuals claiming to represent Animal Welfare staff. These messages are targeting residents with lost pets, claiming their pet has been found and asking to send a verification code to retrieve the pet.

The county warns to not respond to these text messages because they are not legitimate and are not associated with Escambia County Animal Welfare.

If Animal Welfare Officers locate a missing pet, the owner will be notified by phone, email and/or letter. Staff will ask the owner to visit the shelter in person to verify ownership. Animal Welfare staff will never ask for funds to be sent digitally to redeem a pet or access to a personal item. Redemption fees will be calculated at the time of redemption and paid in person.

Comments

One Response to “Escambia Animal Welfare Warns Of Lost Pet Text Message Scam”

  1. Bewildered on September 25th, 2025 12:22 pm

    They are able to track all these sex offenders lately- why are they not able to do the same with rotten to the core scammers? The old cliche: “ e mails originate from out of the country” is getting old. I am willing to bet that quite a few of these notifications iare drafted right here in the good ol’ USA . Cut the head off a few of these snakes and fewer will crawl out of the woodwork