BRODHEAD — A social media post about a missing child had Brodhead police investigating today before determining it was a scam.
The fake post highlights the challenges both law enforcement and community members face way trying to determine the authenticity of information on social media.
In a social media post of it’s own, the Brodhead Police Department said they had received information about a Facebook post on Brodhead Facebook group about a missing child.
But Brodhead police had not received any missing persons reports at the time.
Police said they were trying to verify with the author of the post the validity of the information they posted and if they meant to hashtag the Brodhead Police in Wisconsin or Kentucky.
In a later update, police say they checked with the Brodhead School District as well as the sheriff’s offices in Green and Rock counties.
In the end police determined the post likely was a scam and warned residents to not share missing child posts that don’t come from authorities.
“We never know how the scammers are using such shares or reactions by citizens to continue their scam or victimize people through fraud,” police wrote.