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Is Find Toto a Scam? Lost Pet Recovery Businesses Can Help You Find Your Pet

Today I got an automated phone call notifying me someone nearby had lost their dog.  I was told the type of dog and if I see it, please call.  A Website was also given: www.findtoto.org.  My first thought was "How'd they get my number?" followed by "Is this legit?".  I immediately went to my computer, entered the website URL and saw a page directing me to enter my zip code.  My husband is a computer security guy, so through osmosis, or something akin to it, a little alarm went off in my head.  I turned off the alarm and entered my zip and sure enough, the dog I received the call about was listed.  My questions increased when looking for something….anything…to click on for a page to give me more information was just not there.  To their credit, they do have a place to click if you no longer want to receive their phone calls.

I went to my good friend Google and entered "find toto" with the first results leading me to pages suspecting Findtoto to be a scam.  Doing a little more digging, I found Findtoto.com, not dot org was the place to find information.  I also found a phone number and called to ask about the service.

Findtoto.com/org is a lost pet recovery phone service.  If you have a listed phone number and someone in your area signs up for their service, you will get a call alerting you of your neighbor's (in some cases, distant neighbor) plight.  They sell the service of alerting a given number of people that your pet is lost in return for a certain number of dollars. 

The service is legitimate, though to some, annoying.  I asked the representative on the phone about the dot org site, suggesting to her that no link to their information on dot org to dot com is very possibly the reason behind all the suspicions of a scam.  (It didn't look real) She assured me that they have lawyers and all is fine.  My point being, anytime most of us visit a Website, we expect information.  When information is not easily obtained, we become suspicious. I think somebody there missed that thought. Findtoto.org is a real business, it just doesn't let you know it unless you come across their dot com Site.

Should you receive a call from them you can answer it without fearing your number is going to an inmate who in turn will use it to buy forbidden goods.  Nor will your number be nipped as a real number for marketing scams. 

Enter "find lost pets" into Google and a number of similar services are listed, some local, some national.  Actually, it is good to know services like this exist, but I'm sure you, like me,  hope never to have need of their services.

» left by Ann Marie Hoff from Tucson (1 year 260 days ago.)

I am an animal communicator who specializes in lost dogs & cats. In 7 years, I have found every dog I have looked for except 1 that is currently missing from N.Y. city. I am trying to get the word out- I am a medium so I can talk to the other side too- & can definitely give the people more input about their dogs & cats. Also, I have a blog where I routinely write about dogs & cats. Thanks for the post and happy pet blogging! Ann Marie Hoff 

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» left by Lorrie Davids⁽⁶⁵⁵⁾ (1 year 243 days ago.)

Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, Ann Marie.  I appreciate it.

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» left by Anonymous (355 days 1 hour ago.)

Hello, Ann Marie,

I just happened to come across your blog and wondered if you are on Facebook.  If you are, could you please look up "Maverick, the Siberian Husky is Missing".  It has over 500 FB friends and dozens of people looking for him since the day after Thanksgiving.  There have been many husky sightings in one general area with no confirmation that this husky is him, though a couple people swear it was.  The owners have pulled out all stops to find him and still nothing.  All the info, including owner contact info,  is on his Facebook page.  Thanks so much!

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» left by Jay from Michigan (172 days 1 hour ago.)

Ann Marie,

If you can find our dog in Wyoming, Michigan we would be grateful. We are devasted at the loss. Thanks.

J

 

 

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» left by Anonymous (1 year 157 days ago.)

 

findtoto is a great service that helped me find my dog

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» left by Lorrie Davids⁽⁶⁵⁵⁾ (1 year 129 days ago.)

Hey Anon.  Thanks for reading and responding.  I'm glad your story has a happy ending.  How long was your dog missing?  How far out did the calls for your dog go?  I'd love more information. 

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» left by Anonymous (1 year 99 days ago.)

FindTotto is the only provider of this service I use as a pet detective. You CAN TRUST FindToto! Beware other scams like AmberAlert and the latest scammer on the scenece this month, WeFindPets. We Find Pets has the nerve to not only scam people claiming they have lots of experience, have mapping technologies, which amounts to drawing a circle on a on an map. They promise to call and fax and do absolutely nothing. WeFindPets is also knowingly and willingly using the name of an established Non-Profit called Missing Pet Recovery Services, Inc. and playing off that comapny's national reputation. Someone call the FTC please!!!

 

 

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» left by Anonymous (1 year 35 days ago.)

Why should people be hassled by Neighbors trying to find a Lost Dog? I am a RN working the Midnight to 7 shift, why should they have the right to call me phone/ voice mail hassling me a bout someone's else Lost pet. My Number is on the Govt Do NOT CALL List still that call me. This is an infringement on the Phone Service I PAY for !! Uf my neighbor has a lost pet tell my neighbor to put up signs a picture of their pet & a phone number. Don't call me on my time off or when I am Sleep. You will surely irritate your neighbors using this service. Then when you go to their website they invite you to join some lists called CALL-em ALL where they have the right to change the terms AT ANY time; then they ask you to list your name address & phone number to take them off their auto Telecall list.

 

WTF.. you gotta be kidding me. THink I will call the FTC and file a complaint instead.

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» left by Anonymous (290 days 13 hours ago.)

The service calls public numbers in a certain radius of the address reported that the pet went misssing from. You say "My Number is on the Govt Do NOT CALL List still that call me. This is an infringement on the Phone Service I PAY for!!" Well..  you don't pay for the DO NOT CALL list.. that's free. It's also to prevent unwanted solicitations. Not every public call is defined as a solicitation and I doubt this alert would be.

If you pay to have an unlisted number though, your number won't come up in their list anyway, problem solved.

"Don't call me on my time off or when I am Sleep." - are you actually serious? Your neighbors are all supposed to know what you work the graveyard schedule and when you're asleep? You're so special. Try turning off the ringer on the phone and get back to your beauty sleep, you apparently need it.

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» left by Anonymous (139 days 10 hours ago.)

WOW would hate to have you as my RN.  Sounds like you have a lot of compassion.  maybe you should turn your phone off.

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» left by Anonymous (136 days 9 hours ago.)

Turning the ringer off is not an option for many of us.  I have family that has to contact me occasionally, but they know my hours.  A phone call when I'm sleeping is either an emergency or a damned political add.  I truely sympathize with anyone who works "non-normal" hours.  Most of you daytime do-gooders have no concept of what it is like.

This is a paid (commercial) service and should be subject to the do not call list.  

And yes I have had several loving pets also.  Now all I have is the neighbors 5 cats digging and crapping in my yard where my grand kids play,  scratching up my cars when they jump up on them, and stalking my bird feeders.  Pet owners that do not control/lose their pets have little sympathy from me.

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» left by Anonymous (124 days 11 hours ago.)

My dog was very well taken care of and loved. He was stolen from me two days ago from my back yard within a 10 minute timeframe. The lock on the gate of my 7 foot fence had been cut. I was in another room answering a brief business call and had only let him out to pee. Some instances of pet loss are not the result of neglect.

Incidentally, I work nights and occassionally receive calls I would prefer not to while I am sleeping. I answer the call, hang up and go back to sleep. It has never ruined my day. I cannot even begin to fathom how you can justify your bitterness toward a service that is only attempting to make it easier to find a lost member of a family.

For all the energy you've put into broadcasting your disdain for this service, you could have already had a nap to make up for your lost 5 minutes of sleep. It would be a far better use of your time, considering your comments on this board will surely not render any results to aid you in your plight.

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» left by Shayne T. Pendrick, A.S. from New York State, USA (64 days 4 hours ago.)

And people like you have even LESS sympathy from me. The way you disdain the OCCASSIONAL call from something like Find Toto or another alert call makes me question your ethics as a RN and as a human being in general. I would NOT want you working on me AT ALL, even if I was in peril of my life. Nor would I allow you to touch anyone else in my family ever. I should find out who you are so proceedings can be initiated to have your nursing license revoked for moral turpitude. Your morality is the pits. Either learn to TOLERATE these calls or just GET RID OF YOUR PHONE SERVICE. Easy enough. The nursing community would be better off rid of you forever.

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» left by Anonymous (47 days 8 hours ago.)

You remind me of PETA-type folks who think animals are the same or more imporatnt than people. So, no I don't have any sympathy for YOU!

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» left by Ann from Calif. (357 days 3 hours ago.)

I really didn't like getting a call about my neighbors lost dog. That's not my problem. I agree that a photo and contact info posted in the neighborhood is enough. I look at those. I won't do a damn thing about the call because it invades my privacy. What's next? I lost my keys?!

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» left by Anonymous (355 days 1 hour ago.)

I guess you're not a pet owner and it's good that you're not.

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» left by Doris from Indian Trail NC (353 days 11 hours ago.)

Apparently you do not realize the desperation some people suffer when the beloved pet goes missings. I am one of them. My cat , who is just a precious and loving animal ran away when the neighbors roofers started banging. That was three days ago and I am heartsick. He was not much of an out door cat to start with and certainly never experienced the kind of noise which frightened him.  Lose something that really matters to you and see how you feel.

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» left by Anonymous from Charlotte, NC (306 days 20 hours ago.)

Don't lose sleep over it honey!!! Anyone hiring WeFindPets (or their new scam FindingYourLostPet) won't be distrubing anyone because they are a total scam!

Many Home Owner's Associations won't allow or immediately remove Lost Pet Posters so legtimate services like FindTotoare needed and welcome! How many people do you think will actually walk down to their street corner when they saw your dog in their yard at 9 pm at night anyway?

Would you feel better getting a knock on your door and a flyer handed to you instead of that phone call? I don't believe there is a national "Do Not Knock" list.

I'm sure glad you don't live in my neighborhood! Try turning your ringer off and maybe you won't be so grouchie!

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» left by Anonymous (235 days 10 hours ago.)

Thanks. I just got home to find a message and wondered too , how did they get my # and is this legit? Although the area where I live and the area of the "missing dog' are not exactly criminal intense!

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» left by Lorrie Davids⁽⁶⁵⁵⁾ (181 days 13 hours ago.)

Thanks for reading and commenting.  I had the same thoughts as you! 

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» left by frea from manassas (209 days 4 hours ago.)

Thanks for your research. By calling distant #s they make their quota of calls for X$s, but this is not likely to result in locating a lost pet most of which remain very close to their homes. Here in VA we have a pet locator whom I told charges over $700.

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» left by Lorrie Davids⁽⁶⁵⁵⁾ (181 days 13 hours ago.)

Thanks for reading and leaving a comment, frea.  I've not received another call.  I can't help but wonder if after complaints roll in some areas of find toto are abandoned?  Wow - $700 is a lot of money. We had our dogs microchipped.  I think that is our best bet of having a lost pet returned. 

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» left by Laura from Seattle, WA (188 days 2 hours ago.)

I received a recorded message from findtoto. The phone number left for me to call belongs to NOT a pet owner? I'm confused. I was going to leave a message that I could not understand the website listed (which definitely ENDED in "org" when the phone owner answered. She said she also had received a call with the same dog's description, that her phone (which normally rarely rings) had been ringing off the hook, and whenever it went to message people were hanging up. Soooo - we have a wrong number going out to MANY people about a dog she does not own.

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» left by Lorrie Davids⁽⁶⁵⁵⁾ (181 days 13 hours ago.)

Wow!  What a nightmare for the holder of that phone number!  Thanks for reading and commenting.  I don't think find toto is the best way to recover a lost pet. 

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» left by Lone Wolf from Aurora, CO U.S.A. (144 days 9 hours ago.)

I feel for the people that work 2nd & 3rd shifts who have to try & sleep during what everyone else considers "Business Hours". I used to work those shifts & the phone ringing, flat out SUX. Especially if you're a light sleeper!

 

However, consider this: If that anonymous RN shuts HER ringer off, is she going to miss a call to have her come in for an emergency situation, maybe to help save YOUR life? Is SHE going to miss a call that a family member or friend was injured or worse even killed?

 

It's our God-Given right NOT to receive any calls we don't authorize. I'm on the Fed & Colo. State "No Call Lists" & they are pretty much useless now. I had a pet that died - - I don't want another & I certainly don't have time to worry about someone who's pet got loose or what have you.

 

Find Toto is great, but don't call me if I haven't authorized you to do so. Make that ANY company! Oh & since I'm Lone Wolf (perhaps indicating I'm a missing pet), why don't you call all of my neighbors & maybe they can find me.

 

Be SAFE, Be WELL & PEACE To ALL!

 

-Lone Wolf

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» left by Lorrie Davids⁽⁶⁵⁵⁾ (36 days 2 hours ago.)

Thanks for reading and commenting, Lone Wolf.  I have to agree with you.  I have not received another call since I wrote this from Find Toto.  Now, if I could just get the politicians to stop calling...but that's another article for another Website! 

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» left by Carole from Eugene, OR (80 days 7 hours ago.)

I just received a similar call and was very glad to read about your experience. Being a long-time computer user, I too am very leery of those programmed calls with websites. So when I checked the Google listings, I looked at yours first, then went to the Find Toto website. I also ran into the dot org vs dot com situation, but when I saw the listings under Google, they showed the correct one first.

 

When I entered my zip into the site, I found the same dog described in the phone call listed as missing in our neighborhood! I agree that it is good to know that these type of sites exist and can help if, despite all our best efforts, one of our 4-legged family members goes missing.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write this article.

 

Carole

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» left by Lorrie Davids⁽⁶⁵⁵⁾ (36 days 2 hours ago.)

Thanks for reading and commenting, Carole.  I sympathize with those who lose a pet, but I sure don't want the calls.  I'd be happier if you could just sign up and have an email sent to you in the event of a missing pet nearby, rather than a phone call.   They would make fewer enemies, not be viewed as a scam as often and I could look at it at my convenience.  Hmmm...maybe I need to check the Site out again to see if that is an option.  But, considering the attitude of the office staff of Find Toto, I am rather turned off by anything they would do. Happy New Year!

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