'We got our hopes up': Cambridge couple tricked into thinking their lost cat was found
UPDATE: Ozzy was thankfully found and safely returned to his owners. Read that story here.
A Cambridge couple, who lost their cat Ozzy, said they were tricked into believing he was found.
On May 22 the two-year-old Bengal cat snuck out of their home in the middle of the night.
Ozzy's owners, Amanda Casella and Brandon Duxbury, said he's mostly an indoor cat and rarely ventures outdoors.
"He's never been unsupervised outside," she explained. "He's always been with us and only in our backyard."
The couple noticed Ozzy was missing the following morning. They began canvassing the neighbourhood every day, putting up posters and asking for the public's help on social media groups.
"We are very worried because he does have a heart condition and he requires medicine," said Duxbury. "So it's even more nerve-wracking."
Ozzy the cat in an undated photo. (Provided by: Amanda Casella and Brandon Duxbury)
The couple were then contacted on Thursday by someone who said Ozzy had been found.
But the conversation turned sour after they demanded a cash reward and threatened to sell Ozzy if the couple didn't pay up.
"We said we'd give him a reward if he can give us proof that he does have our cat," said Casella. "He still wouldn't. It was really sad and heartbreaking because we got our hopes up."
That's when the person told the couple to "go away" and then stopped replying to their messages.
They realized that they were misled and Ozzy was still missing.
"I was pretty disappointed that a human could do that to somebody that is grieving their missing pet," said Duxbury. "I just felt sick to my stomach."
The couple then reported the incident to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.
Vanessa Iafolla, an anti-fraud consultant, said the couple did the right thing by not paying out the reward.
"Don't give anybody any money unless you are 100 per cent certain of what it is that you are getting and why you're giving them money."
Casella and Duxbury said they'll continue to search for Ozzy. Since he's been microchipped, they're hoping the person who finds him will turn Ozzy over to their local humane society or reached out to them directly.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.