Animal rescues lean on group chats to coordinate fosters, transport runs, vet appointments and adoption days. The work is urgent and emotional, which unfortunately makes rescue groups attractive to scammers who know that people want to help quickly.

This post outlines a moderation approach for rescue volunteers, foster networks and adoption event groups on Telegram.

Disclosure: this guide is from the team that develops 虾宝 (Xiabao), a Telegram anti-ad and anti-scam bot that is free for group owners.

Scams that show up in rescue chats

Fake adoption listings. Photos of puppies or kittens copied from real rescue pages, offered "free to a good home" with a transport or vaccination fee paid upfront. The animal never existed.

Donation impersonation. Accounts that copy a coordinator's name and photo and post an urgent appeal with a personal payment link.

Emergency vet-bill appeals from strangers. Heartbreaking stories from accounts with no connection to the rescue, asking members to send money directly.

Pet-product spam. Bulk ads for supplements, collars and "calming" products, usually with shortened links.

Rules that protect animals and volunteers

• Every adoptable animal is posted by a named coordinator and links to the rescue's own listing.
• Donations go only to the payment details in the pinned message. Any other link is treated as a scam.
• Transport and fostering requests come from coordinators, not from new members.
• Volunteers never pay a member privately for an animal, a crate or a transport slot.

Put these four lines at the top of the pin, followed by the coordinators' usernames, so anyone can check who is genuine.

New volunteers

Rescues need new people, so screening should be light. A join question such as "Are you interested in fostering, transport, events or adopting?" sorts newcomers and filters out bulk accounts. Turn on join requests before large adoption days, when the group link is shared on posters.

Automate the background noise

Coordinators are busy with animals, not with deleting spam at midnight. A filter bot handles the bulk junk around the clock.

With Xiabao in the chat, spam links and fake appeals are removed within seconds and repeat posters are banned after a warning. Foster updates and adoption photos come through as normal. The Xiabao guide for charity and volunteer group owners covers setup and permissions; it takes a few minutes.

After an adoption day

Rotate the invite link, check members who joined during the event but never posted, and repost the donation rule. Scammers watch for big events, and a fresh pin right afterwards closes the gap.