Did social media posts share the true story of a 79-year-old dad named Scott Doucette who was missing in Bristol, Connecticut, and several other places? No, that's not true: There is no active silver alert in Connecticut for a man named Scott Doucette. The posts are part of a known deception to trick people into sharing a post that will later be changed to an ad so that readers will be tempted to give up their personal information.
A version of the claim originated in a post on Facebook on September 1, 2024, (archived here) with a caption that read:
MISSING 🚨| It takes two seconds to share!
Our Dad, Scott Doucette aged 79 drove out last night with his dog Zoey and he still hasn't returned. He was last seen in #BristolCT
He doesn't know where he's going, he has chronic memory loss. There is a silver alert activated on him. Please help bump this post so we can get him home safely🙏🏻
Here is how the post appeared at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken Fri Sept 6 10:21:00 2024 UTC)
As of this writing, there is no active silver alert in Connecticut for a man named Scott Doucette (archived here). A Google News search (archived here) returned no reports of a missing man by the name of Scott Doucette.
There are key indications that the post is what's known as a bait-and-switch scam. Though the identity of the man in the photo could not be verified, a keyword search on Facebook using phrases from the post caption returned at least six similar posts with different U.S. locations, including in Tarpon Springs, Florida; Monrovia, Indiana; and Little River County, Arkansas. For example:
(Source: Lead Stories Facebook compilation taken Fri Sept 6 14:19:52 2024 UTC)
Five days later, the post flipped to apparently offer free dental services.
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken Fri Sept 6 23:12:38 2024 UTC)
The edit history shows that after the post was made, two attachments were removed, and two were added. Three dots in the upper right corner of a Facebook post open a menu for a social media user to view its edit history. The edit history opens as a pop-up window, displayed in the image below, showing if the post has changed and when.
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken Fri Sept 6 23:08:06 2024 UTC)
Bait-and-switch scheme
In a bait-and-switch scheme, social media users post eye-grabbing content to get other users to share a post with their followers. After the post is shared, the scammer changes the original post to a deceptive ad, often for home rentals, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) (archived here), a nonprofit business watchdog, warns. The BBB adds:
This scheme has many variations, but the commonality is the emotionality or urgency of the message that encourages concerned people to share the news with their friends ...
These posts are shared in local buy-and-sell groups because there is already a sense of community and trust within these crowds, and people may not realize that scammers are targeting members. Scammers sometimes also turn comments off on the posts so other group members can't oust them.
Once a post has shares and engagement, the scammer will flip the post -- that is, update the post to be about something completely different; usually a house or apartment for rent. Hence, the name "bait and switch."
Many of these scam posts will have the comments turned off and will hashtag various cities or locations. The post about the "missing" dad does not contain a call to action, contact information for area law enforcement or the family of the missing, or any other information that tells users what to do next if that person is found.
As Lead Stories previously reported, bait-and-switch posts commonly use links that lead to landing pages with disclaimers or false promises and request contact information that can be used to gather personal data, including financial information.
The Jessica Meyers account that shared the post that is the target of this fact check had also shared several scam-like posts claiming to depict tragedies in other Facebook community groups, including the story of a found 3-year-old boy (archived here) and a missing girl named Bella (archived here). Currently, the account shows no friends.
Similarly, other accounts that shared the post about the missing dad had very few followers or friends.
Other Lead Stories fact checks about bait-and-switch scams can be found here.
