warning for lost pet owners

Gresham OR

Description

I was contacted regarding my missing cat. Person said they thought they had my cat. I asked for a picture. They said they would send one “right now.” It took 7 hours, with no responses to inquiries about not getting a picture. (I think it took that long for them to search online for a picture of a cat that looked like mine). I asked how and where they found him,. I got a one word answer, which was just the name of the town “Gresham.” Which is where I had posted that he was lost. When I asked why it was taking so long to send a picture, the answer was “been busy.” Finally, the second day they said they were available. I asked how I could see the cat to confirm it was mine. They said we could meet. I asked where they were. They ignored this question and just asked where we should meet. I suggested the safe exchange parking spaces behind city hall, where there are cameras monitored by the police dept. they agreed. They set the time to meet the next morning at 9:00 am. I got there early. I was concerned this was a scammer, but was hopeful they weren’t. Ypthen I got a text asking when we were to meet and if there was a reward. I said that they hadn’t said anything about a reward. They said, “I didn’t?” I said that if it was my cat that I would probably have something as a thank you. They then said I was acting suspicious and demanded to know if I had a reward for them or not and said that they would need it sent to them via Zell or PayPal and then they would bring me the cat. I called them out as a scammer. Clearly they weren’t about returning a lost pet. They were demanding a reward at the last minute without any way for me to confirm whether they had my cat or any cat. The name this person used was Liliana Rivera. Probably not a real name and they probably use multiple names. Please be careful of people who take advantage of people who just want their pets back home, safe and sound.