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The BBC found scammers targeting West Midlands pet owners with fake AI photos of their missing cats, followed by gift card demands and threats.
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BBCA scam is using AI-generated photos of missing cats and dogs to convince owners their pet has been found, then demanding gift cards as a reward. The BBC reports that fraudsters have targeted several owners this way, including two women in the West Midlands. If someone contacts you claiming to have found a missing pet, ask for a live video call before sending any money or gift cards.
Stephanie Young's cat Buddy went missing from her Birmingham garden in September last year. She posted on pet rescue sites and social media, which is exactly where the scam found her. A woman calling herself Melissa sent a photo of a cat and said she had been feeding him, then asked for reward money for her autistic grandchildren. Young was, in her own words, '100% certain' it was Buddy. She went to the bank for cash before agreeing to meet Melissa nearby.
The meeting never happened. Melissa refused the cash and asked instead for 100 Apple gift cards. When Young questioned the photo and worked out it was AI-generated, the messages turned into threats to sell or kill her cat. Buddy has still not been found, thirteen months on.
Cam Chauhan's cat Creed went missing in July last year. Nine months later she received an 'exact picture' of him sitting in a back garden and described the moment as an 'emotional rollercoaster', grabbing her cat carrier and heading out the door. The demand that followed was for a £200 Apple gift card.
Both cases follow the same order of events. A real pet goes missing and the owner makes that fact public. A fake photo arrives, built to match what a worried owner is already primed to believe. Money is requested in a form that cannot be reversed or traced, gift cards rather than cash. Only when the owner pushes back, asking for proof the scammer cannot fake, does the approach turn to threats. The gift card demand is the hinge the whole scam depends on: a genuine finder has no reason to refuse cash, and a scammer has no way to produce the pet on a video call.
Fraud involving AI has surged across the UK, with almost £1.3 billion stolen by scammers in 2025. The same public posts that are meant to bring a missing pet home are the ones a scammer searches for first.
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