Are social media posts authentically trying to find a police officer named Jonathan Diller, described as missing from towns more than 1,000 miles apart? No, that's not true: The Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Police Department replied to one of these posts shared in their area, saying, "You are sharing SPAM." News reports show Diller, a New York City officer, was killed in March of 2024 during a traffic stop.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published on Facebook on November 9, 2024. The post's caption said:
HELP FIND HIM - Police Officer Jonathan Diller went missing yesterday morning here in #PrestonHis truck was found last night with his son inside but unfortunately, there is still no sign of him. He is 5'9" and 165 lbs.A silver alert has been issued for Jonathan who is considered to possibly be in EXTREME danger and in need of medical assistance . We are asking for the community's help. ONLY TAKES 2 SECONDS to share...
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Nov 12 16:48:46 2024 UTC)
Nearly identical versions of this post are appearing across social media. All of them suggest a local police officer with the name Johnathan Diller went missing the day before. The only difference is that the name of the community is changed to match where it's being posted.
In a Facebook search on November 12, 2024, Lead Stories found more than a dozen examples of the post. Posts report him missing from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, which is more than 1,400 miles west of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where another post claims he is missing from his vehicle. Four of the posts appear below (communities are circled in red):
(Source: Facebook screenshots taken on Tue Nov 12 2024 UTC)
Pittsfield Police Department
The police in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, called attention to the scam in a post (archived here) on its Facebook page on November 10, 2024. It said:
‼️‼️You are sharing SPAM‼️‼️
PLEASE STOP THE SHARING OF THESE POSTS!!
PLEASE DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE BEFORE SHARING MISSING PERSONS POSTS FROM UNKNOWN SOURCES AND ILLEGITIMATE FB PAGES.
The FB Page Pittsfield's Buy, Sell Trade and Free has been the source of 1000's of shares pertaining to missing people from Pittsfield. THEY are not missing from Pittsfield, and the majority are NOT missing. The Spam accounts that are posting these steal online pictures from multiple sources. Some may even be photos of people who had been missing in the past from other agencies, but no longer are.
But wait, it gets worse. One fake post was from a child who was previously kidnapped and later found. Because her picture was all over the news and FB, it was very easy to steal it and use it to scam others
The attached picture/post was recently found on this same site that mentions a missing Police Officer. NYPD Officer Johnathan Diller is NOT missing. Officer Diller was shot and killed earlier this year on March 25, 2024 while on patrol.
SO WE AGAIN ASK FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE IN STOPPING THESE POSTS FROM SPREADING BY REPORTING THEM. A simple Internet search would have immediately shown you it was spam.
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Tue Nov 12 19:56:07 2024 UTC)
A Google News search (archived here) confirms the death of Diller, who was shot and killed during a traffic stop on March 25, 2024. The MassLive website (archived here) published this photo of Diller that was provided by the New York Police Department:
(Source: MassLive screenshot taken on Tue Nov 12 20:15:16 2024 UTC)
Bait-and-switch
This post appears to be part of an online bait-and-switch scam that deceives social media users into viewing posts that are later edited to show fake advertisements.
Read more
At the time this was written, related claims involving Diller had previously been reviewed by other fact-checking organizations, including FactCheck.org, PolitiFact (and here) and Snopes.com.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks of claims about bait-and-switch scams can be read here.
