The Sweetpea Board of Directors is aware of scammers fraudulently using our EIN/Tax ID and address (1090 Pleasant St, Paxton, MA 01612) to solicit money online under the name Paw Haven. If you encounter ads or donation requests featuring our address but under any different name, please be aware that these are scams.

We have notified law enforcement and relevant regulatory agencies about this issue, as well as Facebook and several other sites. If you have sent money to someone that is misusing our address and EIN, please contact your local law enforcement and financial institution for assistance. The resources on this Federal Trade Commission website might also be helpful. We only operate under the name Sweetpea Friends of Rutland Animals.

We want to emphasize that no Sweetpea data or systems were breached. This was a case of (essentially) identify theft, where “Paw Haven” took some of our publicly-available information and mashed it up with publicly-available information from other companies to make a real looking company. They then ran ads to solicit donations under that fake company.

It appears that their Facebook page, Facebook and Instagram ads, and their website were taken down on or around March 27th, 2025.

Thank you to our supporters who contacted us after seeing the ads on Facebook and Instagram so that we could take immediate action. We are very grateful for your outreach and support. Thank you also to the Paxton MA Police Department and to the MA Attorney General’s Office Public Charities Division for their fast and helpful responses.