Missing children scams are flooding Facebook feeds in Quebec

Fake missing child scams are flooding Facebook feeds across Quebec as posts have popped up in several local buy-and-sell groups.

"These posts get shared so easily and frequently because they tug on our heart strings," says tech analyst Carmi Levy. "They have an emotional connection."

The photos change, but the format of the fraudulent posts is almost always the same.

They claim a young boy -- sometimes with bruises on his face -- was found one hour ago. The author says he was taken to the police department, but his parents are unknown, or that no one knows where he lives. People are urged to share the post far and wide to help reach his family.

The comments are turned off.

One post in a Mont-Saint-Hilaire group has been shared more than 9,000 times as of this afternoon.

Another in a Lambton group had almost 2,000 shares but the problem is Canada-wide.

Back in May, Prince George RCMP warned people about the posts after they appeared on several forums in B.C.

In Manitoba, cybersecurity experts sounded the alarm after a slew of posts surfaced and provincial police in Ontario say similar scams are making the rounds.

Levy says these are bait-and-switch scams. After the posts are shared widely, the author changes the content to advertise their products or businesses.

"Now it's a crypto scheme. Now it's an investment scam," he says. "The worst case scenario is you click on that link, and you're not investing in some crypto scam. You've just given someone permission to harvest all your personal information. Or even worse, they have now locked your computer and you're now the victim of a ransomware attack."

One major problem is that not all social media posts about missing children are scams.

Levy says there are no laws in Canada compelling social media sites to eradicate this kind of misinformation and fraud. But there are some tell-tale signs.

People should watch out for spelling and grammar mistakes and check if local police stations have put out any alerts. They should also verify where the post is coming from by clicking on the author's page.