Safe adoption
The vast majority of people who adopt cats or look for homes for them mean well. Still, scammers sometimes use animal listings. Here are short tips on how to protect yourself and the cat, without fear and without rushing.
Do not pay in advance
Never pay a stranger in advance, and never send anyone your card details by message, email or through a link. Meet the cat, and the person giving it away, in person first.
What mace.ba does and does not do
We offer listings, messages inside the platform and listing reports that come to us for review, not in public. We do not verify the identity of users, individuals or associations. We do not guarantee a cat's health or origin. That is why your attention and meeting in person are the best protection.
Where these tips come from
In the posts of a local adoption group that we reviewed, we did not record a single scam involving a cat. The patterns below therefore come from global and regional sources. They describe behaviour worth paying attention to, not people: most urgent posts, fundraisers and transport arrangements are real needs.
Signs worth paying attention to
Paying in advance, before you see the cat in person
Someone asks for a deposit or the full amount before you meet, and then disappears. A free cat comes with no deposit.
A chain of extra fees: transport, carrier, papers
After the first payment a new cost arrives, often from a “transport company” or “customs”. Transport can be a real need, but money for it is not sent to a stranger before you meet.
Someone else's or fake photos
Photos may be taken from other listings or made with artificial intelligence. Ask for a new photo or a short video of the cat recorded today.
A pedigree cat as a gift for “just the costs”
An offer that sounds too good is often bait for costs that come later. Pause and check.
Fake fundraising
Someone asks for money to treat a cat that does not exist, or poses as an organization or a vet clinic. When you help, pay the clinic directly and ask to see the bill.
Reselling a free cat
A “free to a good home” listing sometimes attracts someone who wants to resell the cat. A conversation before the handover helps you notice it.
Pressure and rushing
“Today or never” or “five other people are interested” is there so you do not have time to check. Real urgency asks for helping hands, not a payment to a stranger.
Leaving the platform and a link to “receive a payment”
Someone immediately asks for another channel, then sends a link that looks like a bank or the post office and asks for card details. Receiving money never needs a CVV, a PIN or codes from text messages.
A fake finder of a lost cat
Someone says they have your cat and asks for a reward or money for treatment before you see it. Ask for a new photo or a video call, and ask about a mark of the cat that was not in your post.
A fake owner of a found cat
Someone claims to be the owner but cannot describe a single mark that is not in the photo. Arrange the handover in a neutral place, ideally at a vet who can read the microchip.
Requests for documents, codes or card details
Adopting a cat never requires sending a photo of your ID card, codes from your phone or card details to a stranger.
A kitten that is too young and a handover without meeting
A kitten a few weeks old, without its mother, offered “right away” or with delivery and no meeting needs extra care. A kitten that is too young needs more time with its mother.
Checklist
If you are adopting a cat
- Meet the cat in person before anything else. If you cannot right away, ask for a video call.
- Do not pay anything in advance to a stranger: not for the cat, transport, carrier or papers.
- A pedigree cat as a gift for “just the costs” is a common bait. Pause and check.
- Ask for a new photo or a short video of the cat recorded today.
- Ask what has been done: vet visit, deworming, vaccines, spaying or neutering, microchip. “We do not know” is an honest answer.
- Ask how old the kitten is and whether it was with its mother. A kitten that is too young needs more time.
- Talk through messages on mace.ba as long as you can. Do not open links to “receive a payment” and never send card details, a PIN or codes from text messages.
- Do not send a photo of your ID card to a stranger.
- If someone rushes you and gets angry when you want to check, that is reason enough to stop.
- If something is not right, use “Report listing” on the cat's page. The report comes to us for review, not in public.
- If money has already been sent or card details already given, contact your bank right away and report it to the police.
If you are looking for a home for a cat
- Talk with the adopter before the handover: where the cat will live, whether there are other animals and children, who looks after it when they are away.
- If it is possible and safe, hand the cat over in its new home or in a neutral place, never just anywhere in a hurry.
- You do not have to give the cat to the first person who gets in touch. It is fine to say no.
- Be careful with someone who wants several kittens at once without a clear reason or will not say where the cat is going.
- For a found cat: hide one mark in your post and ask the person who claims to be the owner to describe it. Hand over in a neutral place, ideally at a vet who can read the microchip.
- Do not publish your exact address or street. The neighbourhood is enough.
- Do not send card details to anyone who says they “want to pay you”. Receiving money needs neither a CVV nor a PIN.
- Agree in advance on what happens if it does not work out: the cat comes back to you, not on to a stranger.
If you want to help with money
- Before donating, check that the clinic exists, whether you can pay it directly and whether there is a bill to see.
- Check the organization in a public register or on its official channel, not through a link from a message.
- mace.ba does not collect money and does not handle payments for cats.
Sources
We put these tips together from public warnings and guides by these institutions and organizations:
- US Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
- Better Business Bureau (BBB) and Give.org
- Office of the Attorney General of New Hampshire (USA)
- RSPCA (United Kingdom and Australia)
- UK Government (GOV.UK)
- MSPCA-Angell
- Adopt a Pet
- International Cat Care
- Cats Protection
- PawBoost
- OLX.ba help pages
- Ministry of Interior of Canton 10 (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- Istria Police Administration (Croatia)
- Regional media: Krajina.ba, Dnevnik.hr, Osijek Express