Police continue to warn after scams concerning posts involving fake abductions, missing or wanted people surface on social media across Massachusetts

Police in Massachusetts continue to warn the public after scam posts have been circulating that are meant to play on people’s emotions to gain traffic, only to change the content.

According to the Pittsfield Police Department, the Facebook page Pittsfield’s Buy, Sell Trade and Free has been the source of 1000’s of shares pertaining to missing people from Pittsfield. THEY are not missing from Pittsfield, and the majority are NOT missing. The Spam accounts that are posting these steal online pictures from multiple sources. Some may even be photos of people who had been missing in the past from other agencies, but no longer are.

But wait, it gets worse. One fake post was from a child who was previously kidnapped and later found. Because her picture was all over the news and Facebook, it was very easy to steal it and use it to scam others.

A post was recently found on the same site that mentions a missing police officer. NYPD Officer Johnathan Diller is NOT missing. Officer Diller was shot and killed earlier this year on March 25, 2024, while on patrol.

Previously, the Franklin, MA Police, featured a Facebook post on a Franklin Yard Sale group that was brought to their attention alleging a potential child abduction. The Facebook post stated the child ran away from the attempted abduction and the incident was reported to the police. The post had over 75 shares.

After looking into the matter, FPD ruled confidently that the post is a scam. No incident similar to it was reported to the FPD. The poster, Nobuhle Magutshwa, posted the same post on various Facebook groups all around the country.

Other activity on the poster’s Facebook page is consistent with other social media scams.

This scam has also been seen in the Fall River and South Coast area.

The posts usually are vague on details. The scams have consisted of photos of people to be on the lookout for, that committed a crime, or a baby or child that the poster says has been found. These posts usually are missing street names, detailed locations or certain details and often feature the same photo twice in one post. They also often originate from Facebook groups that are not well monitored if monitored at all and seldom, if, ever, ask you to contact police. They don’t want you to contact police because the post is fake, and it is a scam.

In some instances, once the post generates enough of traffic, the content is changed to scam people.

One way to be sure that a post on a wanted person, missing person, or abduction is legitimate is if it comes from a media outlet or police department.

Despite the repeated warnings and pleas by police, social media users continue to fall for this scam.