SPOT THE SCAM: Unmasking Fake Rescues

[sl8]

Last edited Sat Apr 19, 2025, 10:39 AM - Edit history (3)

I've noticed a number of fake animal rescue videos posted here recently. I think folks should reconsider before posting/reposting them or giving them "likes" or "recs". They are bad news for many reasons, not least of which is that the animals are often endangered (e.g., putting them in unnatural physical danger, sedating an animal and then "resuscitating" it, etc.), all for the sake of social media "likes" and/or donations.

I respectfully encourage folks to look at the site below & read their report, or do your own internet search for "fake animal rescue videos". It's a growing problem.

It's a nasty business and I don't think it has any place on DU.

https://www.smaccoalition.com/fake-rescue-report

Report:
https://www.smaccoalition.com/_files/ugd/4e12f3_335b2ed0535246d6bd6d681ad604134c.pdf

SMACC’s latest research shows the truth behind fake rescue content: animals are being harmed and viewers are being scammed.

[...]

This content shows humans “rescuing” sick and injured animals, animals trapped and stuck under heavy objects and some even on the verge of drowning. In these staged scenarios, all set up by the content creator, animals are put in danger and situations of distress. Very little is known about what happens to the animals before, or after these video clips.

Kittens, puppies and young monkeys are the main victims. Young and vulnerable, they are prone to abuse.

In SMACC’s latest research, over a third of the content showed animals apparently “abandoned”, often by the side of the road, in rubbish dumps and bins. SMACC is particularly concerned about the potential staging of these situations, as there are suspicions that some animals may have been deliberately harmed or manipulated for the sake of content



[...]

Much more at website.

[SheltieLover]

1. Omg!

What kind of person would do such a thing?

Ty for sharing.

[madaboutharry]

2. Humans can be terrible.

[10 Turtle Day]

3. I've long suspected as much

Thank you the information.

[mopinko]

4. i do wish we had a rule against 'fake'.

i realize this is a tough thing for jurors, sometimes. but we’re a smart bunch.

i also wish we cd include a note w an alert. i was a mod back in the day, when u cd do that. those comments so often informed us of things we didnt know.
i can remember many alerts for antisemitic tropes that i didnt recognize.

i feel like the whole world is lies these days.

[RandomNumbers]

9. re: note with alert - allow only short note

like, limit to 40 characters. That might avoid some issues. (I think way back, we could include a note with an alert, and that was stopped because of some problems. But I might not be remembering correctly.

Being able to add a short note would allow the alerter to clarify the specific issue they see with the post, without allowing a long rant or ramble for the jury to digest.

[mopinko]

10. that wd b fine. i dont rly know y it was discontinued.

it went away when the juries came in.
we didnt get many big rants, tho.

[Meowmee]

5. Yes- I found this out watching them on Youtube

It is disgusting and very upsetting to say the least. One video showed a kitten that was spray painted blue and they were supposedly rescuing her, but it was obvious they were the ones that did that and made the video pretending they saved her to make money etc. I reported a few of those channels but they just pop up again under other names.

The most obvious thing to look out for is there is no way these people came across all of these cats/dogs/kittens etc. in these situations, over and over again, and made a professional video etc.

There was a video about these fake channels on YT also- about people trying to report them etc.
Here is a link to another one... this is not the one I found when I realized it, I can't find that one now.

?feature=shared

[sl8]

7. Thank you for that. nt

[SWBTATTReg]

6. Thanks for the heads up on this practice. Probably trying to juice up their donations I guess, but I think it is

deception to fake rescues.

[Linda ladeewolf]

8. Most of them are fake.

Those turtles rescues are mostly fake. The ones with glued on barnacles. The ones with the puppies or kittens in odd places is mostly fake, No one rescues that many kittens or puppies without putting them in the situation in the first place. Then there are the starving nearly dead animals, the animals condition is real, but they were likely starved nearly to death just so they could be brought back. The real ones would be posted by legitimate rescue operations with real connections.