No credible reports of missing 'Graci Mae Thompson,' contrary to online posts | Fact check

The claim: Image shows ‘Graci Mae Thompson,’ missing from various places

An Aug. 8 Facebook post ( direct link , archive link ) includes two photos of a smiling girl and a public safety notice that references an Arkansas city.

“My daughter has been missing since July 22!” reads the start of the post. “16 days. It only takes two seconds to share! Heber Springs. Her name is: Graci Mae Thompson.”

It goes on to state Thompson is 15 years old and lists other information about her, including her height and weight.

The post was shared more than 10,000 times in a week. Other versions of the claim said Thompson was missing from Utah and Florida .

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Our rating: False

There are no reports of a missing person in any of those locations with that name and description, officials told USA TODAY. The posts are examples of copy-and-paste schemes used by scammers to identify potential targets.

Scammers use copy-and-paste posts to find victims

There is no mention of Thompson in the Arkansas Crime Information Center's missing persons database , nor in local news reports .

The city referenced in one of the Facebook posts – Lake Worth Beach, Florida – is policed by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office , and spokesperson Teri Barbera said it had no record of a child with that name who went missing from the area.

The department also had no record of the Facebook user who made the post, Barbera said.

Thompson is also not listed in the Utah Missing Person's Clearinghouse , said Utah Department of Public Safety spokesperson Hillary Koellner .

Similarly, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children's online database has no record of Thompson.

Fact check : No report of abandoned baby in Alabama, post is a copy-and-paste scam

Jeffrey Blevins , a professor at the University of Cincinnati and a misinformation expert, previously told USA TODAY such a copy-and-paste scheme is a "gullibility check" a scammer may use to identify potential victims. Red flags include disabling comments and coming from a newly created Facebook account. Comments were disabled on the posts in question.

USA TODAY has debunked an array of similar online scams, including those with false assertions that photos showed an abandoned newborn , a lost dog and a wandering boy in various locations.

USA TODAY reached out to the Heber Springs Police Department and several users who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

• Arkansas Crime Information Center, accessed Aug. 16, Missing Persons Search
• National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, accessed Aug. 15, Search Missing Posters
• Utah Department of Public Safety, accessed Aug. 15, Missing Persons
• Hillary Koellner , Aug. 14, Email exchange with USA TODAY
• Teri Barbera , Aug. 14, Email exchange with USA TODAY

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No credible reports of missing 'Graci Mae Thompson,' contrary to online posts | Fact check