Fake Child Abduction Posts on Social Media

We have become increasingly aware of Social Media Posts claiming that a 14-year-old girl had been reported missing after being pulled into a car, and has not been seen for 48 hours.

It appears that each of these posts uses a similar type of headline, “Parents beg for help, 14 year-old-girl dragged into a car. She hasn’t been seen for 48hrs.”

Each post then uses a different location, examples seen so far include Newmarket, Windsor, Stockport, Sevenoaks, Lowestoft, Folkstone, Woodley, Grantham, Skegness and Skelton.

The post has to date used the same image of a 15-year-old girl reported missing in 2019 but found safe the next day.

The post then links to many different websites, some of which have been flagged by Google as harmful with potential phishing sites used to obtain personal data.

These posts pose a risk to those that click on the links and detract emergency services from real investigations.

Please remember to fact check what you see on Social Media before you share it with others. Only share posts from trustworthy and reliable sources like our partners Missing People UK, Child Rescue Alerts and official polices sources. If you become aware of a fake post like this then please report it to the Social Media Company it is hosted on so that it can be removed.

Thank you.