How scammers exploit animal suffering for profit

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As we mark World Veterinary Day, it is vital to recognise organisations and individuals who genuinely care for animals. However, not all who claim to help act in good faith.

These scammers use genuine photos from Ugandan shelters to appeal for donations and have extended their schemes internationally. They attend dog-related events, capturing videos and images later used to trick foreigners into believing they are rescuing animals.

Consequently, Dr Dickson Tayebwa of Vetconekt Initiative Ltd says they now prohibit photography or filming without permission. On World Veterinary Day, Sophia Loren from Italy shared her experience with Maureen Nakatudde of how she was deceived into supporting a fake shelter.

Scrolling through Instagram, the algorithm knew I cared about animals. I used the platform to support shelters, sign petitions, and raise awareness. So naturally, it kept showing me more of the same.

One day, I came across a video. A young man in Uganda, claiming to run a dog shelter, was performing surgery on a dog, on the ground, with no medical tools and no hygiene. Just dirt, blood, and a suffering animal. The dog didn’t even appear to be fully anaesthetised—he was aware of his surroundings, crying out in pain while someone cut into his flesh. I was shocked. Deeply affected. I reached out to him to understand what was going on.

He told me he had nothing. Not even money to feed himself. He said dogs roamed the streets, abandoned and sick, and that the government was poisoning them to control the population. He said he was doing what no one else would—saving them, one by one. But he desperately needed help.

I thought: “A hundred dollars can do so much more there than it can here.” And I kept giving.

But the dogs never got better. They stayed thin, injured and sick. There were always new stories, always new dogs with shocking injuries, the kind that were hard to even look at.

After four months, I realised something was very wrong. I was supporting another rescuer, too. He had lied, sending me x-rays I found later on Google. When I asked about the money, they’d say they had to use it for something else. They always had a reason.

They posted fake certificates, made videos pretending to be certified, and shared invoices written in dollars, three times the real price of a vet in Uganda. They asked huge sums for every new injury.

Then I noticed something chilling. Too many dogs had the same types of injuries: clean cuts, missing limbs and spinal trauma! There were so many paraplegic dogs: injuries that didn’t look like accidents, but like they had been done deliberately over and over again.

It became clear: this was a performance. A coordinated scam. Dozens—hundreds—of accounts using the same tactics. Staged rescues. Filmed cruelty. Fake documents. Shared dogs, shared shelters. They even filmed themselves buying expensive food just for show. Never basics. Always for the camera.

With more investigation, I found online pages that exposed these scammers. There, I saw photos of the same people—smiling, posing, living lives of comfort and luxury. Expensive cars. Designer clothes. Fine dining. While the dogs they exploited stayed in suffering.

This is not a rescue. It’s manipulation. They turn suffering into content. They use animal pain to make money. And I was one of the people who helped them do it—unknowingly.

I’m not rich. I lost a lot of money—money that ended up funding someone’s luxury lifestyle. All I wanted was to help someone in another country who I believed was doing something good, someone trying to save animals.

Supporting that felt meaningful. It made me feel like I was part of something right. But once I learned the truth, I’ve never felt worse. I’ve never felt so deceived, so used, so emotionally manipulated.

This is a serious problem, and yet most people just look away. But the physical pain those animals go through—that part is real. That’s the only real thing in their entire story.