{"id":135898,"date":"2026-01-29T04:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T04:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/135898\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T04:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T04:10:10","slug":"couple-says-scammers-used-ai-photo-of-their-missing-dog-to-steal-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/135898\/","title":{"rendered":"Couple says scammers used AI photo of their missing dog to steal money"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 A St. Petersburg couple said scammers used an AI photo of their missing dog to try to steal nearly $2,000 from them.<\/p>\n

Dennis Morida said his German Shepherd puppy, Hazel, escaped through a backyard fence last week.<\/p>\n

WATCH: St.\u00a0Petersburg couple says scammers used AI photo of their missing dog to steal money<\/p>\n

St. Petersburg couple says scammers used AI photo of their missing dog to steal money<\/p>\n

He said a security camera captured the puppy running across the street. Dennis was not far behind, looking for Hazel. <\/p>\n

Dennis is a military veteran who operates a non-profit organization called “Always a Warrior K-9.” He trains dogs for veterans and other pet owners. <\/p>\n

He said he posted about the missing dog on social media, including the Nextdoor app. <\/p>\n

He said around 11 p.m., he received a phone call from someone claiming to be a police sergeant from the St. Petersburg Police Department.<\/p>\n

“We had an incident. The dog was hit by a car, the German Shepherd. They gave me an exact address, they gave me a fake incident report number. I didn’t realize it was fake until later,” said Dennis. <\/p>\n

Dennis believes scammers used artificial intelligence to create a photo of his dog injured on an operating table at a vet’s office.<\/p>\n

The scammers asked for $1,900 through Zelle, he said. He tried sending the money, but the digital payment service flagged the large amount. <\/p>\n

Dennis said he tried sending a smaller amount.<\/p>\n

“They said, you’re going to get a text message with a picture so that we can verify it is your dog, and so I got a text. I opened it and yeah, definitely her, but I didn’t realize it was AI- generated,” he said.<\/p>\n

He said the caller said he could pick up his dog at Pinellas County Animal Services the next day. <\/p>\n

“They gave the exact address, the exact phone number so it felt more legit, seemed more legit,” he said.<\/p>\n

Dennis said the next morning, Hazel showed up in his front yard unharmed. He realized it had been a scam. <\/p>\n

He said he was able to get Zelle to stop the payment.<\/p>\n

He wanted to share his story to warn others. <\/p>\n

“It seemed so real and so legit at the time. We would do anything to get the puppy back, to get Hazel back,” he said.<\/p>\n

Share Your Story with Julie

From the courtroom to your commute, Julie Salomone works to share the issues that matter to you. She also focuses on the day-to-day issues in Sarasota County, so be sure to reach out to Julie to start a conversation.
.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

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As temperatures drop, especially overnight, you might find yourself tempted to turn on a space heater. While using those heating sources comes with a well-known fire risk, it could also spark lesser-known problems with your insurance coverage.<\/p>\n

Space heaters could spark problems with your insurance coverage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. \u2014 A St. Petersburg couple said scammers used an AI photo of their missing dog…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[205,2872,7083,7084,1827,7085,7086,7087,276,7088,202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-135898","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-st-petersburg","8":"tag-abc-action-news","9":"tag-ai","10":"tag-citrus-county","11":"tag-desoto-county","12":"tag-dog","13":"tag-hardee-county","14":"tag-hernando-county","15":"tag-highlands-county","16":"tag-hillsborough-county","17":"tag-manatee-county","18":"tag-st-pete","19":"tag-st-pete-headlines","20":"tag-st-pete-news","21":"tag-st-petersburg","22":"tag-st-petersburg-headlines","23":"tag-st-petersburg-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}