MindaNews fact-checked a post of a missing foreign child in Davao City being widely shared on Facebook. The claim is fake and a scam. In the worst case, the sharer’s accounts could be compromised and taken over by the scammers.
A post circulating in Facebook groups and widely shared by users online is fake and an example of a heartstring scam post that is going around in the popular social media platform in various formats.
The post reads: “MISSING!!! Brandan Cooper was reported missing by the Police Department about 2 hours ago here in davao city . He is diagnosed with autism and needs daily medications. HE is considered to possibly be in EXTREME danger and in need of medical assistance . We are asking for the community’s HELP TO FIND HIM. ONLY TAKES 2 SECONDS to share (sic).”
Heartstring posts are posts that are designed to be shared by tugging at the public’s empathy, according to financial resource website Investopedia. The idea is for the post to be immediately shared by any user without any chance to think anything through.
We found several other examples of this post in several Facebook groups.
Earlier this year, MindaNews also spotted a similar Facebook scheme involving a widely shared post about an injured dog supposedly found in Davao City, with a Facebook user looking for the owner.
These fraudulent posts are usually uploaded by either relatively new accounts – often created within a few months and with little to no other activity – or accounts with many friends but with little online behavior, suggesting that the account may have been compromised.
We did a search of the missing foreign child and found that there have been several examples of the scam. In other versions, the initial post was edited to try to lure users to input their data, which could lead to phishing scams.
Phishing (pronounced fishing) is an attack that attempts to steal your money, or your identity, by getting you to reveal personal information — such as credit card numbers, bank information, or passwords — on websites that pretend to be legitimate, according to Microsoft.
In the United States, several media agencies have spotted the scam and warned the public about the fake post. Various agencies worldwide have also warned against this modus operandi.
As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact-check stories. (Yas D. Ocampo / MindaNews)
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