 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 6, 2024
CONTACT
Aric Mitchell
info@fortsmithpd.org
479-709-5000
SCAM POSTS INVOLVING CHILDREN
Fort Smith Police Alert: Misleading ‘Found Child’ Posts Persist on Social Media Despite Reporting Efforts
Fort Smith, AR – The Fort Smith Police Department is issuing a public alert regarding the ongoing issue of misleading “found child” posts circulating on social media platforms. Despite numerous attempts to report these posts to Facebook, local authorities have encountered challenges due to limitations in the platform’s reporting system.
Posts like the one below, which often contain false or misleading information, have the potential to cause unnecessary alarm and distress within our community. Unfortunately, even after being reported, some of these posts have remained active, necessitating this public awareness campaign.
The Fort Smith Police Department urges citizens to exercise extreme caution when encountering such posts. While we will continue to work with social media platforms to address this issue, it is essential to understand that reported content may not be removed promptly, or at all.
We encourage residents to not only refrain from sharing these posts but also to inform their friends and family about their misleading nature. If a post like this is not shared by an official agency, or if the "Share" cannot be traced back to the agency, then it is false information being shared for "digital creators" to get clicks and likes so that their profiles will be recommended by Facebook's algorithms. Additionally, these accounts will disable comments on the posts so that no one can correct the misinformation publicly (see below).
We urge you to think twice about sharing posts like these without knowing all the facts and thus contributing to false information that is shared so freely on platforms like Facebook. By working together, we can help to prevent the spread of misinformation and protect our community.
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