Wildlife rescue in Central Florida tricked by a podcast scam, advises caution to others

MOUNT DORA, Fla. – Little Bit Wildlife Rescue, situated in the back garden of a Mount Dora residence, serves as a haven for injured and ailing animals. It holds the distinction of being the sole Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission-certified rehabilitator in Lake County. However, of late, it fell victim to a fraudulent scheme.

“This is why I do what I do. I mean, look at that. How can you not love that?” expressed Elizabeth McAleenan, one of the founders of Little Bit Wildlife Rescue, cradling a young raccoon tenderly.

“The end goal is to raise them until they’re the appropriate size to be released and to survive on their own,” McAleenan explained.

While some animals live out their lives with McAleenan and her husband, most return to the wild to thrive, a goal the nonprofit can’t achieve alone.

“Relying solely on donations, we would struggle as it would otherwise come out of our own pockets. Sustaining the multitude of animals under our care proves to be costly – encompassing expenses like nourishment, formula, and proper enclosures,” McAleenan elaborated on the financial strains faced by the rescue.

Their main source of donations has been their Little Bit Wildlife Rescue Facebook page, but earlier this month, a hacker took control, putting everything on hold.

“So, we went from half a million followers down to nothing,” McAleenan laments.

She believes she was the victim of a podcast scam after receiving an invite to feature the rescue, something she’s done countless times before.

“They gave me the name of somebody that’s a podcaster. I researched them, I don’t want to put the name out there, but it sounded legit. Then we set up a Zoom call so that we would go over everything that would be discussed.”

Shortly after, her followers started to dwindle, and when the alleged podcaster never followed up, she realized what happened.

The scammers didn’t solicit money or try to extort her but posed as her nonprofit.

“I don’t really understand what they were doing. It’s like they took all the followers for some reason, and then they started another page with those followers,” McAleenan said. “They just keep restarting new pages with the name of my rescue.”

Now, they’re accepting donations on GoFundMe and their website, LittleBitWildlifeRescue.org.

“We have our wish list up there which is linked to Amazon and Chewy. We also have a Walmart one,” McAleenan noted.

While they work to boot the hackers, McAleenan is sending a warning to others about this sophisticated scam.

“Be careful. Do your research. I sadly, I did not, I thought that they were legitimate, and they were not they were not,” she said “And don’t be afraid to follow the page when we get it back up and running. We will let people know when they can start following it again.

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