Warning after student searching for missing cat targeted by scammer

When Sarah’s cat went missing and she received a message from someone claiming to have seen her, she was hopeful.

They had taken photos of a cat that looked like hers using AI and demanded money.

“If this happens to me, it will happen to someone else,” she told 9News.

Black cat Cinda, a 16-year-old, escaped from Middle Street in Sydney’s Kingsford at 9pm on May 5.

The person who contacted Sarah by email claimed to have “found” her.

They posted photos that looked like the cat was in a car and on a couch.

But when Sarah questioned them further, they said they wanted $200, part of which had to be paid for with an Apple gift card.

”They said, ‘I spent my last money on her.’ They said, ‘Are you going to compensate me?'” she said.

And although Sarah, like any cat owner, said she would hand over any amount of money to get her cat back, she began to grow suspicious.

She said the photos did not appear to be of her cat.

“I just knew it wasn’t her,” she said.

She showed them to her friend, who also realized something was wrong

The messages were also written with strange grammar.

When Sarah questioned them, they threatened that they were “going to sell her out.”

Sarah said she was on to them but continued with their demands to meet at a local supermarket.

She went with her mother, but no one showed up.

“I would give everything I have for her, but we knew it was a scam,” she said.

While the police told her there was nothing they could do, she also reported what happened to Scamwatch.

She warns other pet owners to beware.

“What they are doing is extortion and it is a crime,” she said.

“I would say question it – don’t just rely on your own judgement.”

Cinda has green eyes and one of her eyes has a brown discoloration. Underneath the black fur on her neck is thin white fur.