As you browse social media, you may see posts featuring missing children. You may even be asked to donate money or share the post with others to raise awareness.
Even if it seems quite authentic at first glance, be careful before sharing it.
“What we’re seeing is really bad,” said Angeline Hartmann of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. “There was a case recently where a child was found in a matter of days in September and all of a sudden her picture is circulating now. It’s clearly a scam.”
Scammers use photos of children — missing or not — and post them all over social media, Hartmann said, often in “buy and sell” groups on Facebook.
“What they are doing is illegal, they are using missing children for extortion or any other form of corruption from people,” Hartmann said.
Police Agencies across the country, from Texas to Tennessee, are trying to warn people about these fraudulent messages, many of which claim that the missing children have been diagnosed with autism.
The motivations for these fake posts vary.
“Sometimes they ask for money, sometimes they just want to appear in your news feed, sometimes they change the poster and it fills your news feed with something else,” Hartmann said.
While some posts about missing children may be false, many are very real. It’s important to do your research before sharing them.
“It’s very easy to go to missingkids.org, look up the posters, look up the information and make sure: Is this a legitimate child, a legitimate case that’s happening right now?” Hartmann said.
To view and search all missing children listed on the NCMEC website, visit https://www.missingkids.org/search.
Here are some telltale signs that a message about a missing child is false:
- This message does not come from a legitimate law enforcement or advocacy agency.
- The post does not contain any contact information that would allow for information on the child’s whereabouts.
- The message contains spelling mistakes.
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