Are Facebook posts reporting a baby boy was found "abandoned by the roadside roughly an hour ago" in March and April 2025 genuine? No, that's not true: The posts are part of a bait-and-switch scam designed to lure social media users into sharing content that then flips into an unrelated page to boost dubious real estate and marketing promotions. The photos of a police officer and a rescued baby are from an unrelated 2023 incident.
One example of the scam is this post (archived here) shared on the "Leeville, LA. Fishing Report with Capt. George Spivey" Facebook group on March 25, 2025. It included two photos of police officers with an infant with a caption that read:
URGENT‼️
Notice to #leesville residents a baby boy, estimated to be between 8 months and 1 year old, was found abandoned by the roadside roughly an hour ago. He is currently safe at the Police Station, but his parents remain unknown. No missing person report has been filed. IT ONLY TAKES A SECOND TO SHARE!!
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot)
Facebook users who click in the scam posts are sent to a page like this one (archived here):
The edit history of the page reveals the flip:
The scammers lifted the photos from a real post by the San Bernardino, California, Police Department in November 2023. This is the real story of the abandoned infant with an update that warns readers about the scammers' usage of the images:
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For more Lead Stories fact checks on bait-and-switch scams, click here.
