Creepy photos of viral ‘missing’ girl Gracie Mae Thompson are fake, while experts are outraged by the damage the scam is doing to real cases

Earlier this week, a viral photo of a missing person circulated on social media, claiming that a girl named Gracie Mae Thompson was missing.

The message appeared to come from the girl’s mother, but police confirmed there was no information about Gracie Mae Thompson.

3

3

3

The poster identified Gracie as a 15-year-old girl and appealed to social media users to share her information after she was last seen in Odessa, Texas.

Odessa, Texas, police confirmed to The US Sun that there are no records of a Gracie Mae Thompson in the area, nor have there been any missing person reports under that name.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children also confirmed that they have no records of Gracie Mae Thompson.

REAL DAMAGE

Angeline Hartmann, NCMEC’s ​​director of communications, spoke with The US Sun about the damage these scams do to real missing persons cases and how social media users can spot them.

According to Hartmann, NCMEC has noticed a dramatic increase in similar scams on social media.

The scams typically consist of a photo of a missing child and a caption urging the public to spread the message.

The problem is that in most cases, the public only becomes aware of the scam after the missing person story has gone viral.

This costs law enforcement and NCMEC valuable time and resources that should be focused on genuine missing persons cases.

NCMEC is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to locating missing children, reducing child sexual exploitation, and preventing victimization.

The organization works closely with law enforcement agencies on these cases and provides support to victims and families.

According to Hartmann, fraudulent practices drain the organization’s resources and have a damaging impact on families of formerly missing children.

‘DAMAGED TO THEIR PROGRESS’

Often the scammers use photos of former missing children or distribute old posters online.

Hartmann said that sometimes the scammers don’t even change the child’s name on a poster.

“That’s a real child with a real name,” she said.

“These families are healing. They want it to go away, they don’t want their pictures anymore and that can be detrimental to their progress.”

NCMEC encourages social media users to remove posters with information about missing persons after they have been found.

Deleting the posts after the children are found protects their privacy and prevents scammers from reposting the photos later.

SIGNS OF A SCAM

Social media users can avoid these types of scams by watching for red flags before sharing a missing person poster.

Gracie Mae’s original post was not shared by NCMEC, any law enforcement agency, or any reputable news organization.

The poster also contained emojis and spelling mistakes, which the NCMEC said are signs of scams.

Social media users should search for the child’s name, date of disappearance and location of the missing child on an official poster.

Missing person information posters should also include the name of the law enforcement agency investigating the case and a contact person for the department or helpline number.

These families are healing. They want it to go away, they don’t want their pictures anymore and this can be detrimental to their progress.

Angeline HartmannDirector of Communications at NCMEC

“You have to be careful on the Internet,” Hartmann warned.

She urged social media users to double-check the signs of a missing person poster before sharing it.

Hartmann added that it is important for the public to stay informed about the case and remove the post if the child is found.

While online scams are making it increasingly difficult to share information, Hartmann urged the public to continue sharing missing person news online.

“We don’t want this to discourage people from joining our mission,” she said.

“Sharing missing children posters works and it brings missing children home.”