Fact check: Posts about missing boy named Brayden Johnson are part of social media scam

BrieAnna J. Frank, USA TODAY
·3 min read

The claim: An image shows a boy missing from various US cities

A Jan. 9 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) includes several photos of a young boy and a dog.

“HELP!!! #Scottsdale My son Brayden JOHNSON took off this morning with our dog hank," reads the post's caption. "He autistic (sic) and has been missing for eight hours if anyone sees him please PM me please re-post on any sites. I already contacted police."

The post was shared more than 250 times in just over a week. Other versions of the claim, some of which include different images but the same caption, said the boy went missing from states including Maryland, Georgia and Tennessee.

Follow us on Facebook! Like our page to get updates throughout the day on our latest debunks

Our rating: False

Police departments in several cities where the claim spread said there is no record of a missing boy with that name in their jurisdiction. The posts are an example of a copy-and-paste scheme that a misinformation expert previously told USA TODAY is used by scammers to identify potential targets.

Police departments around the country say claim is baseless

There is no boy with that name missing out of the Phoenix-area city, said Scottsdale Police Department Officer Aaron Bolin.

Neither is he reported missing from Baltimore, Maryland, or Fitzgerald, Georgia, according to Baltimore Police Department spokesperson Det. Niki Fennoy and Fitzgerald Police Department Major James Reynolds.

The boy hasn’t been reported missing from Spring Hill, Tennessee, either, said Lt. Michael Foster of the Spring Hill Police Department.

Fact check: Local officials say identical abandoned baby posts are a scam

WBRC-TV in Helena, Alabama, also reported the claim was false in a January broadcast with the city’s police chief, who said the posts are an attempt by scammers to get personal information from Facebook users.

Photo illustration of yellow law enforcement line with police car and lights in the background.
Photo illustration of yellow law enforcement line with police car and lights in the background.

The Connecticut Better Business Bureau warned the public about “bait-and-switch” Facebook posts in December 2022, saying such posts are often shared in local buy-and-sell groups because of the sense of community and trust that may exist there. That makes it easier for scammers to find people willing to share what appears to be an urgent request for help, as reported by WFSB-TV in Hartford, Connecticut.

Jeffrey Blevins, a professor of journalism and public and international affairs at the University of Cincinnati, previously described the copy-and-paste posts as "gullibility checks" for scammers in an interview with USA TODAY.

“They’re likely to circle back to you later to see what you’re willing to share, or they might try to engage you one-on-one, get you to accept a friend request, that kind of thing,” Blevins said.

USA TODAY previously debunked similar scam posts, including false claims of a young girl injured in a hit-and-run, a woman hospitalized after being mugged and an abandoned baby.

USA TODAY reached out to users who shared the claim for comment.

Our fact-check sources:

Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.

Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook. 

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: False claim image shows boy missing from various US cities