Scammers Cheat 100+ Victims with Fake Pet Taxi Services

Two scammers are still operating freely with no consequences. Experts say the real solution to stray dogs is sterilization, shelters, and adoption, not the police’s “catch and kill” policy.

This new scam targets animal lovers, rescuers, and those caring for animals. The fraud involves people using fake names and pretending to represent groups like Indies World, 4Tilapat, Well Being of Strays, or rescuers’ groups.

They try to trick victims into paying fake transportation fees.

Some victims have reported or filed police reports using bank details or phone numbers.

However, many others have fallen for the scam, which continues to operate smoothly. The scammers’ main method is cash withdrawals without a card. Facebook posts and comments revealed they have cheated many people.

The scammers are contacting individuals seeking adoptive or foster families or those needing pet taxis to take animals to the vet.

They use fake names such as Angie, Angela Sheridan, Mehreen, Shazeea, Shazia, and an NGO animal rescuer.

On WhatsApp and social media, they all use the same phone number: 5853 3453.

The woman works with a man named Samuel Labonté, who appears on bank transfer records with account number 000023338199 from MCB bank. His phone number is 5723 5292.

The latest victim is a young woman working at a hotel in the southwest, caring for animals and coordinating animal welfare efforts. After sterilizing one of the hotel’s cats, she wanted to find a new family for it and posted on Facebook.

Soon, a woman claiming to be Angie, a pet taxi driver, called her. Angie said she could pick up the hotel’s cats and take them to a shelter in the north for Rs 2,500.

To build trust, Angie used the name Cindy, president of Indies World, and asked the woman to pay via “cashless withdrawal”—a service allowing cash to be withdrawn from ATMs without a card. The woman agreed, using her own bank account, excited to help her cats.

However, after the payment, the woman heard nothing more from the fake pet taxi.

In June, another woman from Baie du Tombeau was scammed by Angie. She paid Rs 4,000 to transport six kittens to a shelter. She reported the incident (OB no: 1885/2025).

A month earlier, Angie tried to scam an elderly woman in Flic-en-Flac. She claimed to have found a family in the north to adopt her cat and offered to transport it for Rs 2,000 via Juice, a mobile payment app.

The elderly woman, unfamiliar with the app, suggested paying upon delivery. Angie never showed up.

Hundreds of comments on Facebook show how many people have been conned by these scammers. Some animal NGOs are already investigating and hope to catch them soon.

Source: Le Mauricien