Fake missing child report spreads on social media

A June 24 Facebook post pleaded with social media users to help find a missing 15-year-old girl in Pike County, Missouri. 

“It has now been 48 hours since Chloe was last seen,” the post said. “Unfortunately there is still no sign of her. We are asking for the community’s help.” 

The post included a photo of a girl standing in front of a car and identified her as “Chloe Grady.”

Searching for that name on Facebook, and more broadly online, turned up no news reports about such a missing Missouri girl. Rather, it revealed nearly identical posts using the same image and name that claimed she was missing in Booneville, Mississippi; Vicksburg, Mississippi; Delaware, and other places.  

These posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The photo is real. The Rowan County Sheriff’s Office in North Carolina posted it June 18 on Facebook after a 17-year-old named Chloe Grady left her home in the county June 16. But the sheriff’s office subsequently updated the post to report that Grady had been found safe. 

But as the fake missing person reports spread in communities around the country, other law enforcement agencies weighed in. 

The police department in East Liverpool, Ohio, called it a “scam post.”  

Based on the North Carolina sheriff’s office June 18 statement, we rate claims that Grady is missing from Missouri or any other state False.