Sheriff Sends Scam Text Alert About Missoula Animal Control

Missoula, MT (KGVO-AM News) - The Missoula County Sheriff’s Office’s Facebook Page contains details about a Scam Alert text message purportedly from Missoula Animal Control asking people to respond to a link with a confirmation code.

KGVO News spoke to Holli Hargrove, Animal Control Manager about the attempted texting scam.

The Latest Texting Scam Victim is Missoula Animal Control

“We received a few calls from people in the community questioning a text message they received,” began Hargrove. “These were people that had either posted a lost pet to a lost pet website or posted a found pet to a website. They said that they had received a text message from us claiming to be a staff person from Missoula Animal Control and the names that were given were not names of anybody that's a staff person here.”

Hargrove further described the texting scam.

The Text Scam Mentions a Link and a Confirmation Code

“There was something with the link and responding with the confirmation code,” she said. “Occasionally if somebody has a voicemail that isn't set up or a voicemail box is full and we know we have their animal we will we do a texting feature that we will attempt to get a message to them asking them to call us regarding their animal. We even put in that message that this text is not able to receive replies so please don't reply back to it but please give us a call, instead.”

Hargrove said it was hard to understand why an organization like Missoula Animal Control would be targeted by such an obvious scam.

Hargrove said Missoula Animal Control would Never Send Such a Message

“We just had some people call us and inquire about it and we thought it was very strange because it's not something that we would ever do.,” she said. “We would definitely not put a link in there. We are that we are not that sophisticated as far as texting things or links and we would never ask for someone to do that or provide a confirmation code.”

Hargrove said Missoula Animal Control will only send a text when trying to reach an owner whose mailbox is full, or who has not set up a voicemail response.

To reach Missoula Animal Control, please call 406-541-7387 or email to animal control at missoulacounty.us.