A false story about a lost child, which was called out as a scam by an American TV station earlier this year, has made it to Malta.
The post, which carries two identical photos of a young boy, claims the three-year-old was found in Malta and has been taken to a Police Station, however, the officers there have no idea where he lives.
The person who posted the photos on a local property Facebook page urges social media users to flood the platform’s feeds so that the boy’s family is alerted to his discovery.
The post has its comments disabled to prevent people from warning unsuspecting users that the post is a scam.
But in September, a TV station in Butte, Montana, KXLF, debunked the story, saying this same post had been circulated across the country.
Last year, Times of Malta debunked a similar story.
A Facebook post asking for the public’s help to trace the parents of a young girl found wandering in Sliema had gone viral. That post had also been shared in a Facebook group for rental accommodation in Malta.
Missing child scams
Fact-checking organisations around the world have debunked several similar scams, including stories about missing parents and lost dogs, aside from abandoned children.
Through this notorious missing child scam, scammers attempt to attract a large number of shares or likes through a story or image that is likely to gain the public’s sympathy.
Once the post has been widely shared, the scammer returns to the original post and edits it, changing it into a post containing links to fraudulent websites or hoaxes, often asking users to submit their credit card details.
Unsuspecting Facebook users who then come across the edited post advertising a hoax are less likely to be suspicious if it has received thousands of likes or shares.
Such posts often have their comments disabled to prevent people from warning unsuspecting users that the post is a scam.
