HEARTLESS scammers are targeting the distraught owners of missing pets by attempting to con them out of cash, it has been revealed.

A Southend woman claimed she was called by con artists pretending to be the RSPCA asking her to hand over cash in exchange for her cat’s safe return.

Southend charity Tilly’s Angels - which helps find missing pets across south Essex - claims this is a “regular occurrence”.

The victim noted caller was “very convincing and sounded lovely on the phone” and is highlighting the scam to raise awareness of the “nasty people playing the heartstrings” of pet owners.

Tilly’s Angels founder, Helene Leader, has slammed the scammers as “despicable and diabolical”, and revealed the charity deals with dozens of scam calls on a daily basis.

Helene said: “Sometimes £200 is demanded, usually with dogs, and with this RSPCA scam that we have seen before they have often asked for far more money.

“It is unbelievable and it so devious, they email pet-owners with the same logo that the actual charities use and we now have warnings on our Facebook pages about it.

“This begins as soon as the posters go up, as soon as it goes onto Facebook, which is terrible.

“It is a strain on us but honestly, it is such a strain on the owners who have just lost their pet, only to get these diabolical and despicable people calling up, saying these things and demanding money.”

Helene has warned pet owners admitted multiple tactic are used by the scammers and urged all owners of missing pets to avoid handing over money if they receive a call.

“There are two different things we often see, we get the RSPCA scams but we also get people who call up and demand a huge amount of money or they will harm or kill the pet”, she added.

“Even one of our founders has almost fallen victim to this when she lost her dogs.”

Helene added that it is a daily battle that begins “every time a dog goes missing” and the Tilly’s Angels call operator is often barraged with calls from scam artists