MIDDLEBURG, Fla. – A Middleburg animal shelter is warning the public about a woman scamming people for donations.
The Safe Animal Shelter says a woman claiming to be with the nonprofit is asking people to donate funds. According to Sherry Mansfield, the executive director of the shelter, the woman is scamming people in parking lots and businesses in Clay County and Jacksonville.
Mansfield said it’s been going on for months.
“Its really frustrating,” Mansfield said. “She’s making us look bad, and from what I’ve heard, she can get hostile if people say no.”
Mansfield said the woman has pretended to be with several other shelters in town and passed out flyers for a rescue that she said isn’t real.
“When I first heard about it, I looked up her rescue and found out she wasn’t registered,” Mansfield said.
Anita Jones, the owner of the Lunchbox Deli in Orange Park, said she has been approached by the woman more than once. She said she immediately noticed red flags.
“Just a lot of the things she was saying, didn’t make sense,” Jones said. “I just thought, they don’t go door-to-door asking for money.”
Mansfield wants everyone to know that no one who works at the shelter will go out, door-to-door, asking for donations.
“We don’t do that,” Mansfield said. “We do not go around in parking lots asking for money. We don’t go into businesses asking for money. If we are meeting people, we have a name tag, we have a logo on our shirt.”
Mansfield said police reports have been filed, but the woman hasn’t been arrested by law enforcement.
“She’s really taking advantage of nonprofits and taking advantage of the community and hurting us,” Mansfield said.