Scam PAWS Email Doops Netizens

If you’re an animal lover, you might have received a scam email from the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) asking for money. PAWS is a non-profit organization catering to the needs of pets who have yet to find a home. But it looks like scammers have found a way to use a PAWS email scam to get the better of us.

Scammer Using PAWS to Solicit Money

Just today, I received a scam email from someone claiming to be from PAWS. Her alleged name is Anna Cabrera and is supposedly the director of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society. The email address used to send the scam letter is phllpaws@yahoo.com.

The real email address of PAWS is philpaws@yahoo.com (with a letter “i” instead of a letter “l”). It’s the kind of trickery that you might fall for if you aren’t too careful.

In any case, the scammer thinks it’s a good idea to ask money from strangers – instead of from relatives and friends – after “being robbed at gunpoint in Spain”. Below is the screenshot of the actual email sent to me (click to enlarge).

In the email, a photo of a cat plus the contact information of PAWS was also given. It’s just horrific when people use animals and charitable organizations to scam other people out of their hard-earned money!

I’m wondering how many animal lovers have succumbed to this scam. I have also emailed PAWS to inform them of this ongoing email hoax. If you know someone from PAWS, please show them this blog post.

The scammer contacted me on my personal email – and that’s information not too many people even know of. I have no idea if PAWS got hacked or if their email has been accessed by a scammer, but in any case, let us spread the word and warn fellow animal lovers. And let’s hope the person who sent this PAWS email scam is identified; using animals to scam people out of money is just heartless. Don’t forget to share on Twitter or Facebook!