Staying safe

Someone contacts you claiming to have your pet. They can't send a photo, or the photo is the one from your own post. They say the animal was picked up interstate and ask you to pay a transport fee, a vet bill, or a "release fee" up front. There is no pet.

• Never send money to someone who hasn't proved they have your animal.
• Ask for a fresh photo holding something specific — today's date on a scrap of paper, a particular toy.
• Hold a detail back. Keep one identifying mark out of your public post, and ask them to describe it.
• Be wary of a caller who won't meet in person or insists on being paid before you see the animal.

• Meet in a public place in daylight — a vet clinic car park is ideal, because the chip can be scanned on the spot.
• Take someone with you.
• You do not have to give out your home address. The message relay on this site works without it.

• Your email address is never shown. Messages are relayed to your inbox; the sender's address appears in the reply line so you can answer, and that is the only address exchanged.
• Your phone number is shown only if you tick the box.
• Missing-pet locations are blurred by default — the public map shows a random point within a few hundred metres, because "last seen" is usually your own front yard. You and the moderators see the exact point, and it is included in the alert when someone logs a sighting.
• You can remove your report at any time from its page.

• Call your microchip registry and flag the animal as missing — that is what a vet or council officer checks first.
• Ring the local council, vet clinics, and the nearest shelter. Found animals are usually handed in, not found online.
• Search at dawn and dusk, quietly. A frightened cat is usually within a few houses of home and will not answer a search party.
• Post here as well as in the local Facebook groups. Different people see each.