The Dog Scamming Kingpins – BBC Africa Eye Documentary

#BBCAfricaEye goes undercover inside the world of Uganda’s sham pet shelters – where scammers profit from animals in distress, while dog lovers around the world team up to fight back.

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A town in Uganda is at the centre of a bizarre and cruel business: sham pet shelters.

Hundreds of social media accounts, operated from the town of Mityana, pump out video after video of pitiful looking animals – mainly dogs, cats, and some rabbits – needing donations for food, shelter, and vet treatments.

But not all is as it seems. Instead of benefitting the animals, these videos have been used to scam dog lovers around the world, and line scammers’ pockets.

As donors realise their donations have been funding cars, phones, and pool parties, online activists globally have begun organising unofficial missions to remove dogs from shelters they consider abusive.

Africa Eye goes undercover to expose how social media’s love for dogs has been used to turn cruelty into profit.

00:00 Save Our Dogs: Inside Uganda’s Rescue Scam
01:41 An open secret in Mityana
04:02 Going undercover
05:05 Inside the shelter
05:56 How to trick donors
06:04 The ‘land’ trick
06:38 The ‘expensive food’ trick
06:55 The ‘fake vet treatments’ trick
07:30 ‘Squeeze them out of their money’
08:49 The people fighting back
10:19 A British donor in Uganda
13:59 Why young people become scammers
15:22 The dog at the centre of it all
19:47 Rescue missions
17:04 A dark discovery
21:37 A revelation in Russet’s story
23:12 The truth about Russet

🚨 UPDATE 13/05/26: Dozens of dogs rescued and suspect arrested in Uganda following this #BBCAfricaEye investigation:

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32 thoughts on “The Dog Scamming Kingpins – BBC Africa Eye Documentary”

Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 http://bit.ly/subscribetoafrica
🚨 UPDATE 13/05/26: Dozens of dogs rescued and suspect arrested in Uganda following this #BBCAfricaEye investigation: https://bbc.in/4u5iwsz
🎞 Watch the documentary: https://youtu.be/pFnXT8PJfhk
📽 Watch this film in SWAHILI here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8AGMOizgYs and in FRENCH here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC8HDZZUH6w

They're using kids as well for scams!!! They find ailing kids pay the caregivers and use the pictures to scam foreigners 😮

You know I don't particularly love dogs, but I am a pet owner, and thinking about these horrible things being done to dogs disgusts me. I really am starting to get angry at humanity for allowing the deliberate harm and killing of innocent animals that are loyal and love humans. I know not every human is bad, but for us to allow terrible things to happen to animals that rely on us to live disgusts me.

The scammers only exist because people a so interested in sending these money donations. Focus on your own dogs and the ones you can directly help and not the ones all across the globe. Have some limits.

I see nothing wrong with those scammers taking advantage of people who willingly put themselves in the position to be taken advantage of and as a spinoff, feed the abuse of these dogs as a business for these people.

the young boys on this undercover mission are really good at their job bless them for the good work .

I got one that tried to scam me but I caught on

If people are stupid enough to get scammed out of their money, I say, oh well, nobody put a gun to their head

Reparations! 😅

That guy blocked me multiple times after I exposed him as a scammer. I recall spotting the dog on several different pages. 😢

Cant believe this is happening in uganda. It seems people will invent alpt of ways to be rich without working hard

Ugandan government has to put strict measures to protect these dogs just like they did Gorillas and other wild animals once caught one has to go jail otherwise it wont stop

dogs are meant to be man's best friend,and you dont treat a friend this way.

Russet 💔was so devastated to hear he died

I'm in Uganda and if there's any innitiative to stop this nonsense, I'm willing to be a part. Dogs are precious ❤

This is so heartbreaking. I feel so angry and ashamed as a Ugandan.

Guys Christ is the way truth and life 😊😊

We have this also in kenya

Ler the collect the money since u chose to help dogs than human from uganda am proud of them for the first time

Ugandan authority is focused on bobi wine . No action on anything else

I new it’s a matter of time. Thank you bbc for exposing these scammers.

This is so sad

I agree that what they are doing to the dogs is evil. However, I am more enraged that millions of human Babies, fetuses have also been cruelly murdered by abortion groups who litter the West especially, and all other parts of the advanced and developing world. That is even a greater evil, and who will defend the many lives of children being murdered for convenience, shame, pleasure or remediable medical situations. We have the best medical cares all over the western world and other choice advanced nations who can safely retrieve a sick baby, operate, and care for it outside the womb and even put it back for delivery later. But no, people have dead consciences and will still go ahead to abort a living soul in the name of choice and progress of their 'gods' or 'goddesses' called science.

Let us make our ways ALL righteous. All HUMANS and even animals deserve care.

This is wicked

You guys that do send money to support dogs do you also send money to help humans that are in need of help or you want to tell me you like dogs more than humans? And you scammers why don't you take pictures of yourself suffering rather than dogs and beg for donations?

This is sad 💔

Am feeling pain and I’m angry. This’s so sad and heartbreaking this scammers become out of hands! They should take them prison!

BBC must make a documentary about homeless dogs in Ethiopia. Thousands of dogs being killed painfully. Please be voice for animals in Ethiopia specially dogs and donkeys.