A post with a distressed-looking baby in a carrier appeared overnight in Facebook Groups across the country.
“Baby dumped at our house gate,” the text said, “I can’t find her parents and my neighbours have no idea how she got here, please help me find her parents.” One such post shared a number of times on Facebook and even made its way onto other platforms such as Instagram.
However, astute social media users quickly noticed that the same image and text were shared across multiple groups. The poster tried to avoid detection by turning off comments and posting through a business profile.
However, users discovered ways to leave comments on the page responsible. “Scam page with a baby picture and the claim that she was dumped on their doorstep.” I’m requesting money. “Report and delete,” one user commented on the profile that posted the image.
Concerned members of the public speculated that all of the images used in the profile and posts were most likely stolen. “Actually disgusting, whoever is behind this account deserves to go to prison,” one user wrote, adding that “if anyone is able to track down the Actual owner of this photo to inform them their child has been used in some sick and twisted lies, please contact them!!”
“Fake profile, using someone else’s photo.” If you happen to run into this person in public, you can bet it’s not their name and they have no idea what this picture is about. Instead of commenting, how about sharing…
