A police department in Kansas is warning the public about fake missing person and pet scams. In a release, the Sedan Police Department says one scam targets social media users by creating posts on local buy-and-sell pages about missing children, older adults, or pets that aren't actually missing.
Officers say the posts are shared on those pages because there is already a sense of community and trust within the users on those web pages. The initial post is then altered with links to fraudulent property rentals or sales. Or sometimes with links to sites designed to garner personal or banking information. This could deceive friends or family members that someone they know recommended the promotional post.
The Better Business Bureau offers the following tips to avoid being scammed by this kind of "bait-and-switch" scam:
Find out when the original poster created the Facebook profile. Scammers' profiles are generally less than 2 or 3 months old due to how often their accounts get banned.
If a child goes missing or a tragedy occurs, you'll most likely see it shared by law enforcement or an official news outlet, not on a random post.
Do a reverse image search on Google. You can right-click on the photo and use a service like Google Lens to see if the pictures in the post are showing up as being used in other ads or websites in different cities.
If you do detect a scam, alert moderators. Report suspected fake profiles, compromised accounts, and spam messages on the sites you find them.
