MONROE — Earlier this week, a post on Facebook went viral claiming a Monroe child had gone missing and police had been contacted. 

Except that no child was actually missing, and Monroe Police had not been contacted.

“Regarding a post that is circulating on Facebook about a missing child in Monroe, the Monroe PD has NOT been made aware of any such situation at this time,” the department shared on its Facebook page Aug. 7.

The user that shared the viral post had just one name — a typical tell-tale sign that it is a bogus page or post. Scams like these circulate regularly, with many regular social media users aiming to be a good Samaritan by quickly sharing, following the text instructions in the post that state something along the lines of “It only takes one minute to share this post.” The comment section in the post is often turned off as well.

Oftentimes, sharing the post leads to bots and viruses hacking user accounts and taking over.