The fake appeals nearly always have comments disabled
Facebook posts that show a photo of child and claim they’ve been found in the UK and they need help finding their parents are hoaxes.
There are multiple versions circulating that are using old photos of youngsters in the US, according to Full Fact.
The posts use near-identical text, saying that a child has been found “walking behind a home” and that their mother’s name is Wendy. Names, photos and locations can differ.
These fakes appeals nearly always have comments disabled to stop people calling them out as false.
One post which appeared in a Rochester buy and sell group, says: “This baby (Chloe) was found today walking behind a home in #rochester , we can’t find her parents, the neighbours don’t know her or how she got there. She says her mom’s name is Wendy Let’s bump this post so it may reach her family, thank you. [sic]”
Researchers did a reverse image search and discovered that the picture comes from a Facebook post last year by a charity in Louisiana about a donation of car seats.
There have been similar hoax posts. Last month claim were circulating on Facebook that a dog injured in a hit-and-run accident has been found in Cookstown, Northern Ireland.
In February, Full Fact wrote about dozens of Facebook posts shared in local community groups claiming that a day-old baby was recently found “in a dumpster” in critical condition.
Derbyshire Police has previously warned against sharing posts about missing people with the comments disabled. It has said: “Please don’t encourage fake posts by sharing without checking.
“We anticipate that once shared widely, the post will be changed to something else… possibly an ad for investments or other scams.”
Full Fact has written to Meta to urge the social media giant to put stronger measures in place to tackle the issue.
Its statement read: “Hoaxes pose a risk to user engagement with local community news because groups can become overwhelmed with false information. As a result, genuine posts may be ignored or dismissed as false.”
