CULLMAN COUNTY, Ala. — Cullman County law enforcement officials are asking people to stop contacting the police department regarding a recent social media post regarding a supposedly missing autistic child.
The photo used in the posts has been used in similar social media posts across the country. The posts end up wasting officials' time and at worst can be used as a gateway to stealing your personal information.
THE QUESTION
Is the child in the photo, depicting a curly-haired boy wearing an orange vest which reads 'AUTISTIC, BE KIND' really missing?
OUR SOURCES
Cullman Police Department
Reverse image searches
Various news outlets across the country
THE ANSWER
No. This photo has been used in multiple phony reports of missing children on social media.
WHAT WE FOUND
Cullman Police Department says in their Facebook post that "we are not currently looking for anyone" as of August 5.
We put the photo of the child through a reverse image search and found many news articles concerning fake social media posts about a missing child with autism.
In each news report, a screenshot of an associated social media post is found using the exact same photo. The locations of the supposedly missing child change with each post - Genesee County, Michigan... Omaha, Nebraska... Evansville, Indiana... even in Canada. In each post, the name of the child is different: for instance, Brandan Cooper was the name used in the Michigan post, and the Cullman County post claimed the name of the child was Ryan Johnson.
What is the common thread? The posts are going into Facebook community-based groups. The Alabama post was made in the "Cullman Online Yard Sale" Facebook group, for example. The post from Michigan was made in a "Side jobs, seeking or wanting" group.
Officials say that each time a new post is made, details are changed. In time, if the post is shared enough, "update links" may be shared that are actually malicious links intended to steal personal information or cause other harm.
Missing child alerts are often placed through official social media channels run by law enforcement agencies. which update the course of their investigation as they go along. Those details are also shared with news outlets like this station.
The VERIFY team works to separate fact from fiction so that you can understand what is true and false. Please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter, text alerts and our YouTube channel. You can also follow us on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Learn More »
