Has police Deputy Tyler Cooper in a town called Surprise found a 2-year-old boy wandering alone, and can't the police find his mother named Ella? No, that's not true: The "deputy" in the post is not listed by name on either the Surprise, Arizona, police department or county sheriff's department websites. The person who posted the story blotted out the boy's face, turned off the comments and failed to provide a police contact number. The post is a version of a bait-and-switch scheme in which social media users post emotional lost-child, missing-person or found-pet messages and encourage sharing, then "flip" the post to some sort of scam advertising pitch that seeks personal information.
The post appeared on Facebook on September 15, 2024. It initially read:
This little boy approximately 2 years old was found last night walking behind a home here in #Surprise.
Deputy Tyler Cooper saved him and took him to the Police Station but no one has an idea where he lives, the neighbours don't know him or how he got there. He says his mom's name is Ella. Let's flood our feeds so that this post may reach his family, thank you.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook on September 15, 2024, before the text and photos were changed:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Sep 16 12:23:00 UTC 2024)
By the time of writing on September 16, 2024, the post (archived here) had "flipped" to a real estate ad.
According to the post's edit history (found by clicking on the three dots at the top right of the post), the creator changed the text on September 16, 2024, to read:
Title: LEASE TO OWN
Price: $865
3 bedroom, 2 bath house in the area, estimated cost of $865 per month. Stove and
refrigerator included, Gas heat and trash is included in rent.
Conveniently located near shoppingcenter and it is in a safe neighbourhood. All pets allowed.
Section 8 allowed.
This is what the new, "flipped" post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Sep 16 16:43:38 UTC 2024)
The link that appears at the bottom of the "flipped" post leads to a website (archived here) that claims to offer housing opportunities -- even for people with bad credit -- and bears the logo of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The site was created by Jimdo, a service that makes business websites using artificial intelligence.
The Jimdo website's "GET ACCESS" button leads to another site called USForeclosure.net (archived here), "your source for foreclosed home listings." It asks visitors to hand over their personal details before showing them available homes. It makes no reference to HUD or any other government agency.
Lead Stories has asked HUD's public affairs department for comment and will update this story if they reply. Scammers have put out similar ads for HUD housing assistance and used them to harvest personal data, according to a warning from the Village of Canastota, New York, on July 15, 2024 (archived here).
There is no evidence the story of the lost toddler was ever real. The Facebook post said "Deputy Tyler Cooper" had found the boy "here in Surprise," and the page's title indicates that the account is based in Arizona. The Surprise, Arizona, Police Department's staff directory does not include a listing for Tyler Cooper, and Lead Stories confirmed that the department employs no officer by that name in a phone call on September 16, 2024. Surprise is in Maricopa County, where the sheriff's office website also shows no record (archived here) of a deputy named Tyler Cooper.
A keyword search conducted by Lead Stories on September 16, 2024 (archived here), turned up duplicates of the scam post. One was in Colorado, where "Deputy Tyler Cooper" supposedly rescued a 2-year-old boy (archived here); another was in Charleston, West Virginia, where "Deputy Sam Jenson" found a lost 3-year-old boy (archived here). The wording of these posts is practically identical.
"Bait and switch" posts on social media typically begin as calls for help -- the kind that well-meaning viewers are likely to share on other feeds or platforms. Once enough people have shared a post, the scammers alter its contents in an attempt to persuade people to hand over sensitive information or buy a product.
Other Lead Stories fact checks on "bait and switch" scams can be read can be found here.
