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I finally stopped believing every 'sick pet' Facebook post after one backfired on me
My aunt shared this story about a dog in Memphis with a rare disease needing $5,000 for surgery. I donated $20 and shared it everywhere, felt great for a day. Turns out the photo was from a different rescue two years ago and the whole thing was a copy-paste scam. Now I check every fundraiser on the actual shelter's site before I hit send. Anyone else fallen for these pet sob stories?
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diana_kim662mo ago
Get in the habit of reverse image searching the photo before you send anything, it takes like thirty seconds. Also looking up the vet clinic they claim is treating the animal and calling them directly saved me from a "dying cat" post that was actually a screenshot from a UK charity drive from 2018.
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felix4142mo ago
Another angle here is that even if the image is real, the story attached to it is almost always fake. Found out the hard way with a "hurricane rescue" post that used a real photo of a shelter dog who had been adopted years earlier. The original owner had no idea their dog was being used to scam people across state lines.
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angelarivera2mo ago
Wait, you actually called the vet clinic? That's amazing, @michael_green44 would probably say you wasted an afternoon, but I'm genuinely impressed you went that far to check.
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michael_green442mo ago
Honestly I don't see the harm even if it is a scam, at least you felt good for a day and the twenty bucks probably still went to someone who needed it. Every time you fact check you kill the chance of helping some real animal that's actually in trouble right now.
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