Colo. Springs Police investigate middle schooler’s alleged AI scam to claim lost dog reward

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - It was during the COVID lockdowns of 2020 that Wendy Bliss-Highfill adopted Freya, a mini schnauzer dog.

"She's just been like my second child, third child," Bliss-Highfill said.

But last week, Freya went missing. "For her to disappear so quickly on Wednesday night when I let her out to go to the restroom was just really shocking," Bliss-Highfill said. "I walked around the entire neighborhood."

It's been all hands on deck to find the lost pup since. Bliss-Highfill says in addition to searching her own neighborhood, she searched the neighboring neighborhoods, nearby wooded areas, and put plenty of flyers up on telephone poles and online social media sites.

Not to mention the $1,000 reward for whoever returns Freya.

Then Sunday came, and the full-court press to find Freya finally felt like it was paying off.

"When I woke up, I had this text that someone had found my dog, and I was elated. I thought, 'Oh my gosh, this is great!" Bliss-Highfill recalled.

But that moment of elation was short-lived. "It became kind of like a chess game where this person. They wouldn't identify themselves," Bliss-Highfill said. But one thing they did do was ask for half the reward up front, according to Bliss-Highfill.

"I said, well, no, why don't you bring the dog, and I'll give you the money? And they went on with, well, what if you rip me off?" is how Bliss-Highfill described the back-and-forth.

"I said, well, you have to give me proof of life. I need to know what happened to my dog. Where is she? Is she okay? So this individual sent me a picture of a dog that looked like it could be my dog," Bliss-Highfill continued.

The picture wasn't actually her dog. It was an AI-generated image of Freya. The Google Gemini logo appears in the lower-right-hand corner, but Bliss-Highfill says she missed it while in an emotional state.

She tells KRDO13 that she eventually suggested Greyhawk Park as a place to meet up and make the transfer. From then on, Bliss-Highfill said it was radio silence. The next day, she says she decided to go to the park anyway.

While at the park, Bliss-Highfill says she came across a group of middle-schoolers and went up to them to ask if they had seen her dog and potentially a person with the animal.

"I said, well, I've got this individual who wanted to meet me here. They won't tell me their name or any information. And they said, well, why don't you give us their phone number? We'll see if we can find out who this is," Bliss-Highfill said.

According to Bliss-Highfill, the group quickly identified that number as one belonging to a classmate and gave her the child's address.

"I started knocking on the doors. I started showing the picture of my dog to the video security camera and going, 'This is my dog, give me my dog," Bliss-Highfill said. However, that didn't work according to Bliss-Highfill.

She says she then went into the home's backyard to see if she could see her dog from the back window. According to Bliss-Highfill, the family then called the police, and she was charged with trespassing, a misdemeanor crime.

"I had been fooled by AI. And I'm not proud about that," Bliss-Highfill said. When the police arrived, they found that Freya was not in the home and was still missing.

"As an adult, I'd like to [think] I know technology a little better, but I was in such a desperate space right then and there, and I really felt like that kid had my dog," Bliss-Highfill admitted.

KRDO13 reached out to the Colorado Springs Police Department about the Bliss-Highfill claims and the general situation:

"CSPD can confirm that we have an open and active investigation into this situation. This is a complex case involving multiple parties, including a juvenile, with allegations being made that officers are actively working to thoroughly assess and resolve. At this stage, the investigation is in its early phases, and while charges could be filed, it would be premature to determine what those charges would be or to characterize the incident in any specific way."

Police to say they are, "seeing a significant rise in scams involving various forms of AI, including images, deep fake videos, voice cloning, and relationship scams, to name a few." CSPD is cautioning the public to be on the look-out for red flags such as:

• The person trying to create a sense of urgency
• The person trying to play on emotions, and
• The person asking for things like money, passwords, and account numbers.

Freya, the dog, is still missing.

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