More and more publications are circulating on social networks depicting disappearances of adolescents. Scams that have only one goal: to extract money from you.
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– Beware of the fake disappearance scam circulating on Facebook.
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The disappearance of a child can cause terrible feelings in parents. So much so that some people can be easily blinded. This is what happens in the so-called false disappearance scam. In France, it was spotted by our colleagues from The Independent at the end of October. A few days after the kidnapping alert was triggered to locate little Santiago (finally found with his parents in the Netherlands), a publication circulated on numerous Facebook groups. She specifies that a young girl named Chloé Grady, aged 16, has been missing since October 10.
The sheet summarizing her disappearance indicates the young girl “drives a 2001 Honda Civic” and that she was “last seen wearing a black hoodie, fangs, and jeans.” The author of the ad, who introduces himself as his mother, adds: “It only takes two seconds to share!” In fact, on closer inspection, several details are disturbing. On the one hand, the girl would be 16 years old and driving. In the photo, she has a document that looks like a driving license, but it is not French.
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Publications replaced by competitions
Furthermore, if the young girl had disappeared on October 10, the 22nd of the month, we would therefore be on the twelfth day of disappearance, and not the seventh. This is obviously a scam, because after research by our colleagues, it appeared that the young girl named Chloé Grady did disappear last summer, but not in France, but in the United States in North Carolina . Above all, she was found two days after his disappearance. In addition, the account that relayed the publication is false.
According to RMCat present, the publication is still circulating on Facebook groups across France. Our colleagues spotted another fake account spreading it which had previously relayed another false disappearance, a little boy with a swollen face. Again, it’s about a little American boy. But then, why broadcast these fraudulent ads? The goal is for them to be relayed as much as possible. In 2023, 20 Minutes had already investigated the phenomenon and noticed that the scammers were replacing the false announcements with advertisements or fake competitions.
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Internet users, who are not paying attention, are led to click on the fake game in the hope of winning something, and will then provide bank details and the trap closes. As a reminder, you should never provide personal data on an unverified site or on a game. In addition, these false advertisements are easily spotted since they highlight numerous approximations. Finally, verified disappearances are the subject of police investigations or kidnapping alerts.
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