You can’t believe everything you see on the internet. 

One scam circulating in some popular Maricopa Facebook groups recently is proof of just that.  

A Facebook user using the name Brittney Scott this week shared two photos of a young boy with a bruised and swollen face in the “Maricopa AZ Small Business” group and said: 

“This little boy, approximately 3 years old, was found 1 hour ago here in #Maricopa … Officers have the child safe at the Police Station but have no idea where he lives. No one has called looking for him. Let’s flood our feeds so this post can reach is family….IT ONLY TAKES 2 SECONDS TO SHARE!” 

Flooding feeds is exactly the point of this scam — keep reading to find out how it works. 

The Brittney Scott account shared the same post and other disturbing photos of bloodied toddlers in Fort Myers, Ind., Facebook groups using #ftmyers. She has also shared similar posts in Maricopa groups about finding lost jewelry and missing kids, bogus rental home listings and fake burglaries. 

Using the word “gutted” in one post, a British English term meaning “disappointed,” is one giveaway that the person behind the account is overseas. 

The Brittney Scott account on July 24 posted two photos of a teenage girl to a Maricopa Facebook group and stated: “Leila Gutierrez, 13, was last seen yesterday and only her backpack was found after yelling was heard. We are afraid she might be in extreme danger. We are counting on #Maricopa community’s help to help locate her which is where she was last seen. Flood Your Feeds!!!” 

That exact same post has been shared dozens of times across the country including Facebook groups in Colorado, Oklahoma, Missouri and Ohio. 

Gutierrez is a real person who went missing in 2021 in West Allis, Wis., and was found safely. West Allis PD shared the same photos on its X account, formerly Twitter.  

Scott turns commenting off so that suspicious locals can’t call out the scam, and the only option for those who fall for it is to hit “share.” 

The purpose of this scam is to coerce unsuspecting samaritans to share the posts in large numbers. Then, the scammer edits the post to become a Bitcoin scam or a phishing link to steal people’s personal information. Sharing the post can pose a false sense of security to your friends and family that the Bitcoin or phishing scam is legitimate because you shared it. 

When trying to determine if a missing person poster is real, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children suggests looking for the following red flags to spot misinformation: 

• The information on the child does not come from NCMEC, an official law enforcement agency or another credible news source, such as your local or national news.  

• The poster or post contains misspellings, improperly used words or errors in syntax. 

• The post does not ask you to take the appropriate action or doesn’t share how you can take action. 

Good missing person posters should include: 

• A child’s name  

• The date they went missing  

• The location they are missing from 

• The law enforcement agency handling the case, its phone number or NCMEC’s 24/7 hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST