Thereisariseinscammers on social media. Now, the scams are hurting more than just users' personal information. The scam social media posts are causing emotional damage and leaving friends, families and the actual missing children vulnerable in the process.
Many people are quick to share a post about a missing child because they believe they are helping the families locate their missing child. However, sharing the post could do more damage than good.
Sharing a false missing child post on Facebook can lead to unsettling consequences. It can make it hard to figure out what the right thing to do is.
The false posts on Facebook use a plea of finding the child to make the user wants to share it. The posts are seemingly legit at first glance.
However, they will be posted by fictitious profiles claiming to be a variety of law enforcement divisions and other organizations. That piles on the problem of deciphering what is real.
What makes it even more difficult, is the photos are real, they’re just stolen photos of children from the internet. The photos may be of children who have never been reported missing and evensomethatdidgomissing but have been found.
Missing children are definitely a post worthy of a hasty share. This is how the scammers are hitting where it hurts.
These scammers have found a way to reach a lot of people fast. As the amount of sharesrapidlyaccumulate,so do the issues.
Once they have reached thousands of profiles, they can easily go in and change the post completely. Changing it into something hazardous for Facebook users' personal information, leaving friends and family at risk to do the same.
Don’t fret, there are some tips to quickly decipher how legit the post is that has caught the user’s attention. Look for posts in buy, sell and trade groups with caution. That is a good sign that it is not real.
Look to see if the comment section of the post is open for discussion. If it is not and the comments are turned off, then definitely proceed with caution before interacting with it in any way. The scammers turn off the comments section to avoid being called out.
For any users unsure if it’s legit, or not, look at the profile of who has posted the Missing Child Alert. If it is a new profile with few friends that is definitely an indication of one to dodge.
Unfortunately,theseposts are making it harder for actual missing children alerts to reach the public. By being more thorough before a post is shared, this will aid in real organizations reaching the public in a more time efficient manner.