A Facebook Scam Has Devastated an Oregon Animal Shelter—And They Need Your Help

Earlier this summer, employees at the Columbia Gorge Humane Society (CGHS) in The Dalles, Oregon, received an email that they thought came from Petfinder, the adoption database where they post their adoptable pets. The email asked for the nonprofit’s Facebook username and password, claiming that they wanted to link the shelter’s Facebook page to the Petfinder website.

But the email wasn’t from Petfinder at all; in reality, it was sent by a scammer attempting to hack into the Humane Society’s Facebook page. The resulting weeks have been devastating for the shelter, which relies on Facebook to advertise their adoptable pets and raise donations — and their followers are left vulnerable to theft as Meta declines to help. 

The scam

What happened to CGHS is known as “phishing,” when hackers impersonate reputable businesses or people to gain access to account log-ins and other sensitive information. According to the FBI, over 298,000 people reported phishing-based crimes in 2023.

After gaining access to the Facebook account, the hackers began posting images of animals that the CGHS didn’t actually have available for adoption, the CGHS president Suny Simon told The Oregonian. The photos were accompanied by a Google form that asked applicants to send $150 to Zelle or Apple Pay.

“Please do not fill out this application if you are not willing to follow the procedure on it,” the application said. “If you contact and start asking questions when you have not made your deposit your application will be cancelled.”

At least one person has fallen victim to the scam, sending $150 to the hackers, Simon told The Oregonian. 

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Meta hasn’t helped

The shelter reported the issue to Meta within two hours of the attack, Seth Bradley, a CGHS board member, told The CGHS was given back access to their page — but Meta didn’t remove the hackers as administrators of the business manager account. The scammers were once again able to lock the shelter employees out of the page. And this time, Meta was much less responsive; they closed the complaint ticket and claimed they are working on a long-term solution. “We still don’t have access to our followers, and they’re still posting fake dogs,” Bradley told The Oregonian. 

Geordie Duckler, an animal-law attorney, is trying to help the shelter regain access to their page. He says that Meta has been unresponsive since August 7. “They seem either uninterested, distracted or just non-responsive,” Duckler told The Oregonian.

The shelter relies on their Facebook to operate

Losing their Facebook page has put a significant strain on CGHS. Before the hacking, their Facebook page had 8,000 followers. They used the profile to advertise adoptions, raise money for their animals, and let volunteers know about opportunities to help.

“Without being able to share information on Facebook, donations and adoptions have been at an all time low,” Simon told Columbia Gorge News. “The hackers also removed our Amazon Wishlist on social media so that we are not getting food and other needed donations to keep the 60 dogs and cats that are in our care currently. This is significantly impacting the livelihood of the shelter.” 

The problem is so bad that Simon fears the shelter may have to halt operations permanently. “I have some real concerns about how long we can hold on before we have to close the shelter,” he told Columbia Gorge News. 

The shelter has started a new Facebook group, which currently has around 400 followers. They have also posted a GoFundMe to help them recover from the losses that have occurred after losing access to their community support.