#THE VET BILL ASKS ARE A SCAM | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

coulsonlives · 1 year

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PSA: CAT MEDICAL BILL SCAM

Please signal boost this if possible to inform your followers about these scams.

Earlier today, I got a message from the account nicole-loves-king, where they asked me to signal boost a post because their cat needed medical help. Here's the ask:

(And you can see the post in question here)

I looked at this post and was immediately put off because they were asking for people to send things through 'friends and family', which if you aren't aware, is a very insecure way to send someone funds using paypal, because you don't have the protections you would get if you used 'goods and services'. So scammers can make off w your money really easily.

I looked at their blog and scrolled down to the end, and I realized their blog was made today! And, all their posts (there weren't many posts to begin with lol) were of trending topics. I noted puss in boots, and welcome to nightvale among others. This is probably how they found me, because I reblogged some of that stuff recently.

Here's the time stamp from their oldest post (notice it says the time, not the date, which means the post was from today):

In their ask, they also tell you to answer privately. Hm, that seems sus. Why would someone not want you to publish a request for help?

So I have a policy where I don't signal boost posts from brand new blogs because, yknow, they could be scams. I posted this, and the scam account blocked me. They also blocked my friend when they replied to their ask and said their blog looked suspicious. I did some more digging, and I found a comment from someone that confirmed my suspicions:

This is in fact a scam!

@nicstonka is almost identical to the above account (nicole-loves-king). Look at the avatar, the pictures, and the paypal address, both accounts even have 'nic' (as in 'nicole') in the name. The only thing that is extremely different is the name of the cat! Yet both blogs also have the name of the cat in their url ('king' and 'tonka'). That should also be a red flag, because usually someone isn't gonna have the name of their pet in their url, only a few posts, and a signal boost for that exact (fake) pet.

Here's a side by side:

Looks at those paypal accounts: nbrunelle519, and nbrunelle391. Nope definitely not a scam /s

And the cat pictures side by side:

Tumblr's "scam" tag is actually full of these reports now, which you can see here. Or if there's nothing there anymore, click here and here for images.

And links to some older PSAs about other cat scams: 1 2 3

So if you see any blogs like this, where all they have is trending posts, it seems like they've copied and pasted an ask to you, or if they're asking you to send things via friends and family, vet them so so so carefully, because chances are you're walking into a scam. Don't just repost things without carefully checking! If you aren't in a position to check carefully, better safe than sorry: don't repost it! Don't let these scams spread.

Pro tip: If a blog is dash only, so you can't view their archive to see when their first post was made, and you're on desktop, you can just open the blog in its dashboard view, then click 'end' on your keyboard over and over until all their posts are loaded. Usually if it's a spam blog, you'll only need to click 'end' 5-6 times, sometimes a bit more, since they only post just enough times to give the appearance they're active, then there's absolutely nothing after that.

If you want more proof someone is a scammer, you can look at the currency they use their post (or the currency shown in the vet bill), then hover over the paypal link and inspect the part of the url that says 'country.x=AA'. The 'AA' is the abbreviation for the country your money is going to! If that country doesn't match the country of the currency shown in the post, it's a scam! Example: someone's post says '$' for USD/CAD dollars, but the country in their paypal link is 'PH', which stands for Philippines, where they use Philippine pesos, not dollars!

Also keep in mind that these are not bots! There is a real person behind these accounts. They have replied to people who wanted to confirm they were real, but their intentions are still to scam you, they just know it looks better if they reply.

Stay safe!!

Edit:

Updating this post to announce the scammer's made more blogs, and they're probably gonna keep doing it! Here's the list so far. This isn't up to date btw, go to @scamarchive and check their pinned post for the most recent detected blogs

turncoatrune, starlightdisc, xxmy, wxnt, eeyore-pg, coatedpeanbean, starrypanelstars, panelstars, scyllostyle, the-nonbinary-witch, aash-aash, leechness, ash-aahs, commandobutch, lovely-pages, pagefive-to-six, reconnecteed, five-and-fourty, stepsapphic, farmer-butch0, health-pages, turnersapphic, lxve, march-pls-be-good, emberful, imse7en, kassidymaygemz, kassidymaydream, dreamingkassidy, kasdream, live-march, confusedskulll, march-lives, criticaltuesday, quicksilvah, wrldy, quicksilveey, the-stucked-pan, flurrbum, o345, nxce, thls, hokkairi, sykdykee, furrtasticbu, bumfurry, supsense, wickdart, the90sbest

Keep in mind you may not receive an ask like the above ones. You may get something simpler like this, instead:

Most of these are cats, but there's been dogs and even people too.

If you wanna get even more info on all these accounts, there's an archive of this scammer's pinned posts and asks here, so you can see at a glance how similar they all are. You can also see a comprehensive list of scammer red flags specifically for tumblr here!

And lastly, you can report the scams using 'report something else' > 'unlawful uses or content' > 'phishing'

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scamarchive · 1 year

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Red Flags: How to Identify a Tumblr Scam (Pet Edition)

Has someone sent you a message requesting that you boost their sick pet fundraiser? Have you seen someone reblog a post like that? It could be a scam.

Check out this list of red flags before you boost or donate!

🚩 Red flag #1: Someone you don't know has sent you an ask out of nowhere, requesting that you boost their fundraiser

Scammers like to cover as much ground as possible. To do this, they find completely random, unrelated people through the trending and popular posts. If you reblog a trending or popular post and receive an ask soon afterwards, that's probably how they came across your blog!

Example: you watch a new release movie like 'Puss in Boots', and you reblog some trending fanart. You receive an ask about a fundraiser a few days later.

Example 2: you like some fanart of characters from the recent 'The Last of Us' episode, which is trending on tumblr. You receive an ask about a fundraiser that night.

Example 3: you reblog some cottagecore photography or another post that contains a trending aesthetic. Hours later, you receive an ask about a fundraiser.

🚩 Red flag #2: They tell you to answer their ask privately

Scammers love spamming the same copy-pasted ask to hundreds of people! They also love to reuse asks from previous scams. To reduce how many people notice the similarities between their current asks and asks from previous scams, they'll tell you to answer privately, to stop more evidence from getting out there. Also consider: if someone really has a sick pet, they should want as much exposure as they can get! Telling someone not to publish their ask seems counterintuitive, unless they have an ulterior motive.. Which a scammer will definitely have.

Knowing these red flags, check out the six scam asks below. What do they have in common?

🚩 Red flag #3: Comments are turned off in the fundraising post, or there are removed comments

Scammers preemptively turn off comments in their posts so people can't call attention to the fact they're scams. People who have real fundraisers, on the other hand, are usually glad to talk to you in the comments! Sometimes, scammers let people make comments, but there may be a message that 'some comments have been deleted or removed'. These were usually warnings from people who realized it was a scam.

🚩 Red flag #4: Their ask box is closed

Scammers preemptively turn off their ask box because they can't provide proof that the pets and vet bills belong to them. They also want to avoid angry messages from people who realize they're a scammer.

🚩 Red flag #5: They ask you to send money through paypal's 'friends and family'

On paypal, you can send strangers funds using 'goods and services', or 'friends and family'. Scammers will often ask you to send through 'friends and family' because you have very little protection and you'll have a hard time getting your money back! Scammers like to spin it as being 'faster', and they'll try to appeal to your emotions to create a sense of urgency and guilt, convincing you to send money using that option.

🚩 Red flag #6: Their posts have no tags. Their posts are all reblogs of trending posts. They don't seem to be reblogging consistently from any specific blogs

Scammers make a fresh blog for every new scam. They want to set up their blogs as fast as possible, so they cut corners, meaning that aside from their fundraising post, all their posts will be reblogs, and they won't usually have tags. The reblogs will often be of trending, easy-to-find tumblr posts! In most cases, scammers reblog posts from as many different blogs as they can, unlike the typical tumblr user who usually reblogs from select people they follow, over and over.

🚩 Red flag #7: They only have ~40 posts on their blog

Scammers know that most people won't spend more than a moment scrolling through a blog to verify its age, so they'll only populate their blogs with just enough posts to convince someone who only scrolls for a short time. Usually, the posts are all made within a few hours at most. If a blog is run by a scammer, usually you can scroll through all the posts within five minutes.

Remember: scammers want you to think 'eh, good enough'! If you're scrolling through a blog and you start to think this, scroll for another minute or two!

If you're on desktop, you can quickly get to the end of someone's posts by tapping the 'end' or 'page down' keys.

🚩 Red flag #8: Most of their posts are reblogged directly from the original poster

Scammers will usually reblog posts directly from the person who originally posted them, unlike most tumblr users, who tend to see posts reblogged by their friends and reblog them from those friends instead.

🚩 Red flag #9: Most of their posts have very high note counts

This is another indication they were fabricating their blog activity. It's way easier to find super popular posts than smaller ones! This is not a rule, most scam blogs will have posts with ~40 notes mixed in with posts with ~40k notes.

🚩 Red flag #10: The timestamp of the oldest post is only a few days old

Most scam blogs don't last more than a week before tumblr deletes em. Once you've scrolled to the end of the blog, check the timestamp of the oldest post by clicking on the 'meatball' (three dots) icon in the corner of it. If that post is only a few days old, or if it's so new that you don't even see a date (only a time), the blog is probably run by a scammer!

🚩 Red flag #11: The blog is dash-only

Scammers disable their blog's main theme so people can't see their archive and instantly see how new all their posts are. They want you to have to scroll, then get tired of scrolling (or say 'good enough'), so you never reach the end of their very sparse posts and realize it's a fabricated blog.

🚩 Red flag #12: The reblog notes have warnings that say 'this is a scam'

When people reblog a scam post and realize it's a scam, they'll often edit the post to warn people who see it in the future. You can look for these warnings by checking the 'comments and replies' reblogs, and the 'comments only' reblogs! Scammers count on people to reblog instinctively and not check these notes.

🚩 Red flag #13: You check the 'other reblogs' tab and notice that many unrelated users reblogged the post directly from the original url

This indicates the person sent copy-pasted asks to many unrelated people (this ties into red flag #1 and #2!). An unknown blog shouldn't have this many direct reblogs for their post, especially if the post and blog itself is super new.

🚩 Red flag #14: You check out their url tag at tumblr.com/tagged/URLHERE and see posts warning that they're a scammer

Sometimes, upon searching for the person's url (you can do this by going to tumblr.com/tagged/URLHERE), you'll see a bunch of people who have outed the scammer. Keep in mind even if you don't see any warnings, it doesn't necessarily mean the person isn't a scammer! Sometimes a blog is just too new for anyone to have posted about it yet.

🚩 Red flag #15: The post uses strong emotional buzzwords and language

Scammers like to use a post template that involves many colourful emojis, and phrases like 'my poor (pet name)!', 'he deserves to live!', and 'help us save a (cat/dog/etc)!' to appeal to emotion and make people feel empowered to help. This is so someone will share the post as quickly as possible, and not spend as much time carefully vetting the blog. The language is designed to make people feel guilty if they don't share. Not all posts containing this language are scams, but scammers employ it a lot because it's super effective at getting results!

🚩 Red flag #16: They don't have established history with anyone on tumblr

If nobody knows who the person is, chances are it's a scam. There's no shame in asking around to see if people recognize the blog! Make sure if someone comes forward to confirm, that their blog is older and they're well known in the community. Scammers don't really go through the hassle of astroturfing real interactions with real people before making their scam posts.

🚩 Red flag #17: The currency on the vet bill doesn't match the currency of the country that appears when you hover over the paypal link

This is a big one! For example, imagine there's a post with a photo of a vet bill. You notice the costs are all in US dollars ($). Next you check out the paypal link at the bottom of the post by hovering over it with your cursor (or pressing and holding with your finger, if you're on mobile).

When you do this, in the bottom corner of your screen (or in a popup if you're on mobile), you see the url attached to that paypal link. This url reveals the paypal user's country using a short abbreviation! In the example below, you can see 'PH', which stands for 'Philippines':

Therefore, the post in this example is almost certainly a scam, because the currency in the Philippines is pesos (₱), not USD ($).

You can also look carefully at the vet bill to find the location of that vet. In this example, the vet is located in Richmond Virginia, US. That is a red flag too because again, the paypal recipient is located in the Philippines!

🚩 Red flag #18: They have both a venmo and a paypal link, but the names aren't the same

Scammers make sock puppet accounts for venmo and paypal, and they'll often reuse those accounts between scams! Because of this, their links won't have identical names. For instance, in the example scam above, their paypal said 'aatuck1', but their venmo said 'evan-naeher'. This is probably because they made a new paypal to match the name on the vet bill they stole, but they still had a working venmo they wanted to reuse.

Other handy things to remember:

Just because someone proves they aren't a bot, it doesn't mean they aren't a scammer!

Many scammers do manually send asks to people, do reply to people who ask questions (without giving any actual verification), and even block people who reveal them to be scammers. Many scammers have been confirmed to have 'waking hours' and 'sleeping hours'.

💡 When in doubt, ask the person to write some words of your choice on a sheet of paper, put it next to the animal, and send a picture of it to you. 💡

If the person actually owns the pet, this will be easy for them. If they can't produce a picture, it's a scammer. Remember: if someone gives an excuse for why they can't send a pic, stay skeptical! Excuses are not a substitute for proof.

When in doubt, answer their ask firmly and skeptically.

This is the 'tough love' version of the above approach!! If someone sends you an ask, say firmly that their blog 'looks suspicious', and that you aren't comfortable sharing or donating. Often, scammers will block you as soon as you say this, because they know they can't provide any verification (unlike people with real fundraisers, who will be happy to give it) and because you've given them the impression you're tough on scammers and not an easy sell, they won't even try to convince you! Now if they don't block you? Awesome- now's the time to ask them for the sheet of paper photo.

Scammers use stolen, but legitimate, photographs of pets and vet bills!

The bills are real, the pictures of pets are real. But they're stolen from real fundraisers that other people made on facebook, gofundme, etc. Because of this, you can't rely on a vet bill picture alone to tell if something is a scam! You need to look at the context of the entire post, and check for red flags in the person's blog, etc. That's where things fall apart!

You won't always find a source for pet pictures if you reverse-image search them!

Scammers often take pictures from facebook and other websites that are behind login walls, and these sources won't show up on google. If you reverse-search a picture and nothing shows up, remember to still check for other red flags!

Lastly: If you want to report a scam, you can select 'report something else' > 'unlawful uses or content' > 'phishing'.

Just remember these red flags, or save em for reference, and you'll be a scam detective in no time!

Reposted with permission from @coulsonlives.

#scam #scam alert #psa #mutual aid #fundraiser #reference

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fallow-grove · 5 months

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btw the "i need money for my cat's vet bill" ask scam is still alive and well. its genuinely upsetting that people or groups or whoever the hell is running that are so willing to take advantage of others' compassion by lying to them. stay safe out there kids

#fallow buzzes #serious post

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redwinterroses · 10 months

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posting this just in case any of my followers (especially any reddit newbies) got this ask as well:

Hey. This is a common scam on tumblr dot com. The messages usually follow this script: They apologize for bothering you, ask you to look at their pinned post, and request that you DM or answer privately (a weird request when you're trying to get public attention and assistance.) Usually it's a pet's vet bill, sometimes it's a person who needs help with medical care or rent bills or moving or all the above.

It's a scam. It's always a scam.

100% no one will ever legitimately ask for your help this way. If you look at the actual blog, it only goes back a few weeks at most, it's full of uncurated random stuff (in this case, the entire blog was created in about 10 minutes this morning.) There will be no tags on any posts, the only original posts will be ones about whatever scam they're running.

In the time it's taken me to make this post, the blog has already vanished -- either been taken down by staff or the person chickened out (or got what they wanted.)

Guys, please be careful on this site. There are bad actors who will try to capitalize on your empathy and care for the world. Don't donate to anyone -- person or organization -- without properly vetting them first. Don't give anyone information, personal or financial. Be smart.

Also screw you if you're the kind of person who does this. May you always spill your drink on your keyboard and may your bacon always burn.

#tumblr #how to tumblr #tumblr scams #reddit refugee #The worst part about this one in particular is that #while this scammer got some things wrong (like the gender of the beloved cat) they seem to have been piggy-backing #off of an actual person who is trying to raise money to save their cat #which is just despicable in my opinion

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silurisanguine · 2 months

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New scammers

So....scammers here have always used what ever you post to try and emotionally pull you to send money to them. Because I post pics of cats - scammers dm me with '"please help me pay vets bills for my poor sick cat" Because I post about the awful American healthcare system - "please help me buy insulin." Because I post support for Palestine " Please help pay for help ..."

you get the picture. (Hell sometimes they bring out wombocombos...like what I just had that triggered this...."I need insulin im in Palestine".) All these scam artists pages are the same. Newly created, most posts less than 5 days ago. All with either the exact same post they link to in their DMs, or random posts linked to their claim. Often their likes are locked and there is nothing else on their page. They dont follow you, just randomly pick you from what ever search they did on here. But they are ALL working on your emotional response to not check, not be careful. Do not fall for it. if you are feeling generous or are not sure if it might just be a real ask...there are plenty of better avenues to ask for help you can reply with. Sub Reddits dedicated to donating money. Direct help to Palestine can be found here via many posts.

A random person though, coming out of the blue and dm'ing you to send them money without any other contact? That's a scam.

#scam artists #scammers #tumblr

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bunjywunjy · 1 year

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Greetings Your Bunjyness!

Just received a follow & message from an account called bunjyqueue asking for help with vet bills. Profile also had some dragons. Wondering if it's you or someone you know, or a potential scam. If it is legit, I'm afraid I don't have anything to spare. I'm just squeaking by myself. Anyway I thought I'd bring it to your attention, since the account has so many similarities to yours.

Wishing you and Wexter lots of Xtreme Chompin Fun!

-EFO

no that's 100% not me! if they're a real actual person and not a scam they're in no way affiliated with me.

my only other blog is @heyitsbunjy which is just my emergency back door in case of a sudden blog termination

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t00thpasteface · 10 months

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be on the lookout for accounts sending asks begging for signal boosts on donation posts. they are usually brand-new blogs and won't let you view their archive to check that. they also use copy-pasted text in the ask and/or donation post; you can google excerpts "in quotes like this" and find verbatim duplicates.

i recognize that supporting other common folk on the web is important but you have GOT to be careful what you reblog and especially what you give money to. not everyone means it when they say they need money for medical/vet bills or what have you. there is almost no way to be sure who's telling the truth about why they need money and where it's going, especially if you don't personally know the blogger who posted it or, gods forbid, they're cold-calling you to panhandle. a blind reblog for awareness could result in a friend of yours getting scammed, so do your due diligence and don't take every stranger's donation post at face value.

#unfortunately there is a long and storied history of people leveraging personal sob stories to scam people on this site #shebbz shoutz

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todaysbird · 7 months

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It's kind of like this for me... you go in to the vet, and you see all those posters on the walls about dog dental health or heartworm meds or whatever, and you look and they're from a company trying to sell you a related med

My understanding is that usually those companies are paying the vet to post what are basically ads

And like... on one hand, those probably are effective meds for those things, and those are things that need treating. Also, if the vet is getting compensated, that may help to pay for stuff like rent and may lower my costs even a tiny bit... and that's probably good

On the other hand, I think that kind of advertising is very insidious and... you do have to ask the question, might it influence vets even unconsciously to favor giving out the meds/food/brands that also helps pay their bills, especially if they do get any kind of actual reward?

It's complicated, money makes all this stuff tricky. You get balancing operating cost, vs providing care, vs ethical questions around accepting deals with companies to directly or indirectly promote their products to people trying to take care of their pets

(And like you said, you've got a lot of this stuff around in the human medical field too)

I assume that's kind of your main point with what you've been saying here, that the whole thing is a muddy situation where monetary motives my consciously or subconsciously influence vets to lean towards brands that help them out regardless of if that's what's best for their client and their pets, but that also doesn't mean that it's some kind of pure scam with zero value either

Anyway, regardless of if I'm reading your thoughts on this right, hope you have a good day

Yes exactly. I do not believe that the average owner ‘knows more’ than a vet, however I do believe certain food brands are over-recommended due to those brands paying for their places in vet offices. This doesn’t even necessarily negate the quality of the food, or reflect on the care the veterinarian provides.

I remember getting into a long debate over the phone with a vet tech when she insinuated I had gotten grain free food for my dog as a fad diet, and they only recommended Hill’s. My dog has allergies to grain, and gets violently ill when fed regular dog food. After many brands, we have settled on a grain free, sensitive tummy dog food that keeps her healthy and happy. This does not mean she was acting with intent to harm my dog. Vets are more aware of dogs’ needs than the average person, AND you as an owner have the responsibility to know & advocate for your pet’s individualized needs.

#asks

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excali8ur · 2 months

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Hi I saw you on the Palestine donation post saying it's a scam they messaged me about their situation and when I click on the GoFundMe link it just goes to a PayPal so I was wondering if thats what makes it a scam or was there smth else you saw that gave it away...

If some random 3 day old blog comes into your inbox begging for money, it's a scam. It's very easy to see it's a bot if you scroll back on their blog and it's been up for less than a week and there are no personal posts or links to other social medias. Their bios are usually very basic.

Most of their asks are exactly the same with very slight variations in phrasing. They also have dodgy links which are often labelled GoFundMe or Linktree but actually direct to a Paypal, often with a completely different name/picture to what's on the blog.

It's exactly the same as those vet/medical bill scams that were around before, except the fucking vultures who run those fucking things have realised that hijacking the genocide in Palestine is a much more effective way of farming donations right now because it's a "current issue".

Please be suspicious of any stranger (ie bot and/or scammer) that comes into your inbox begging for donations. Money given to those parasites is money taken from people who actually needed it. Make sure you report spam blogs who send those kind of asks.

#asks #personal #anon #Too tired to phrase this eloquently right now #Stop falling for donation scams.

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kyra45 · 1 year

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What is a pet donation scam?

While I have explained the basics of how to spot a pet donation scam, I will also explain what a pet donation scam is for those who have yet to see one or have not yet heard about them. These scams are extremely common on tumblr, but it is understandable that some users may have not yet learned what they are. This explanation is simplified and should be easily understood since it will give an idea on what these are.

A pet donation scam is when a user goes into Facebook/GoFundMe/etc and looks at the fundraisers listed for cats and dogs. They will then find a photograph that looks suitable and save it to their computer/phone where it will be edited slightly sometimes so reverse image search won’t locate it. Often these images are from a private source which also makes locating it difficult.

Once the photograph is saved, alongside vet bills sometimes, the user will then either copy the story they had obtained from the legitimate fundraiser or simply make up a new story which will then be edited to use a fake cat/dog name while rarely bothering to match what their photographs claim. The fake story is always changing! The pay date will not state a specific month and be as vague as possible.

The user will then reblog multiple posts across their blog and generally use them from trending tags. Sometimes these posts are all from OP and have no tags while being shared rapidly minutes apart. After about 20 posts, they will then make their fake fundraiser post using stolen photographs and a story either stolen from the real fundraiser page or a fake story they made up and have reused across multiple accounts with the cat/dog name changed and the date varying.

Eventually, the account will then start sending asks that request being answered privately. The address to support them is usually a name they’ve stolen from a real person in order to look more legitimate but closer inspection would reveal the country doesn’t match the currency or vet bill. The account however banks on no one looking up anything and to share the post without doing a bit of research first.

In closing, a pet donation scam is when a user uses the content of a stolen fundraiser in order to get funds for an animal that doesn’t belong to them. Any updates they have are generally stolen off Facebook. Unfortunately due to the method the scammers use for payments, those who attempt to help will rarely ever get their money back. No funds given will actually reach the real animal.

Please make sure to always be careful of asks sent that request private answers and come from accounts that have no prior interactions. They are, generally and most commonly, a scammer trying to get your money or your followers money.

#scam #how to spot a scam blog #pet donation scam #longpost #long post

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