Playing with Jackson and Enzo – two cats among many cats and dogs whose lives depend on donations to Happy Paws Haven - Vice President Sydney Terenzi said she has been battling to have more than one donation page impersonating the rescue taken down.
“It’s really sad,” Terenzi said. “We rely heavily on our donors and generosity that believe in our mission.”
The real Happy Paws Haven animal rescue is a foster-based, no-kill rescue that serves Metro Detroit, with intakes in Royal Oak, Ferndale, Detroit, Madison Heights, and Birmingham.
Unlike traditional shelters, Happy Paws Haven operates entirely through foster homes.
“What that means, essentially, is that we don’t have a building per se,” said Terenzi. “They’re in our homes getting loved on, getting used to being a pet.”
Working on a volunteer basis, Terenzi said donations are critical, and that makes what happened in December especially alarming.
Terenzi said followers and volunteers began alerting the rescue to a fake Facebook page posing as Happy Paws Haven.
The page gained more than 23,000 followers and used copied photos and videos of animals to solicit donations.
“They essentially created a duplicate page, and they were posting photos and videos of animals and rescue content, and then they had created a PayPal link that went to a different PayPal,” Terenzi said.
The fraudulent page listed its location as Detroit and urged viewers not to scroll past pleas for donations, falsely claiming animals would be euthanized without immediate help.
Not all the videos and photos were from Happy Paws, but many were, said Terenzi.
The rescue reported the page repeatedly for over two months.
Terenzi said the scam showed signs it did not originate in the United States and repeatedly tried to warn their followers and donors.
‘“These scammers are getting good’”
“These scammers are getting good, like, they’re getting better and better,” Terenzi said. “But then, if you go deeper into that Facebook page, it does show it didn’t originate in our country.”
Local 4 also reported the page this week and contacted the page directly, as well as Meta and PayPal.
Finally, the fake Facebook page was taken down. However, the PayPal link connected to the scam remained active until Friday.
Local 4 reached out to both Meta and PayPal again. On Friday, PayPal dismantled the link.
Paypal told Local 4 in part that it “does not tolerate fraudulent activity, and our teams work tirelessly to protect our customers.”
PayPal also said its customer service team reviewed the case and resolved the matter, stressing that fraudsters often exploit goodwill by posing as charities and encouraged customers to verify recipients before sending money and report suspected fraud.
The folks with Happy Paws Haven said that while they worry about how much money may have been taken, the scam has not shaken their faith in the community.
“For every one of them, we have a hundred people who come out of the woodwork and support us, and we’re just so grateful for them,” Terenzi said.
The rescue hopes the incident does not deter people from donating, as the community’s support remains the lifeline for animals like Jackson and Enzo — and countless others still waiting for a safe place to call home.
Click here if you’d like to donate, foster, or see a list of animals up for adoption.
How do you know if a social page is fake?
According to the Better Business Bureau, a big red flag for fake or scam accounts is recycled content. Scammers often rely on “stock images, memes, or other recycled images,” use avatars instead of real photos, or post with “no written content at all” or lots of spelling and grammar mistakes.
Profiles are usually vague, too. If an account is just generic quotes or buzzwords and never explains who’s behind it, it might be a scam.
Another giveaway: fake engagement. Some accounts buy followers or likes, which leads to thousands of followers but “little to no engagement,” or comments that are just emojis and unrelated phrases.
The BBB advises watching for accounts that repeatedly push the same links.
“Only click links you trust.” When dealing with well-known people or brands, verification badges help too; accounts without them may be impostors.