We at Mimikama have dealt intensively with the phenomenon of fakes on Facebook. On a normal afternoon, a seemingly concerned mother posted a post in a Facebook group asking for help finding her missing daughter. With the haunting words “Has anyone seen her? “Help me find my daughter ,” she sparked a flood of posts and reactions.

This also applies to the article from Nuremberg: “14-year-old Lea Müller is missing in Nuremberg and her family believes that she was kidnapped…” . But what at first glance looked like a real cry for help also turned out to be a hoax. The girl herself was never missing and wasn't called Lea Mueller! ( Fact check ) It was Sophia Birlem, a model and Instagram star from the USA and not from Nuremberg.

Recurring patterns: an overview of the most stubborn fakes

What is alarming is that certain patterns are repeated in the fakes. This includes posts from missing and sick children, missing and sick dogs, fake competitions, phishing attempts or generally fraudulent advertisements on Facebook.

  • Posts about missing and sick children that prey on users' emotions.
  • Posts about missing and sick dogs , which also aim to generate compassion and sympathy.
  • Fake competitions , which are often used to obtain personal information or lure users to fraudulent websites.
  • Facebook phishing attempts , which attempt to steal user credentials through fake login forms or links.
  • Various forms of fraud aimed at financially exploiting users.
  • Advertising links and fraudulent advertisements , which often promote products or services of dubious quality or which only aim to generate traffic.

The dark side of Facebook groups: Fake posts and their consequences

Through our continuous research and fact checks, we can confirm that such misleading articles are widespread not only in German-speaking but also in English-speaking countries, as can our colleagues at Full Fact (fact-checking organization from England). Full Fact also reports that such fake posts primarily flood local Facebook groups.

A repeated stitch

This special contribution from “Lea Müller” was just one of many. Identical calls with the same story, sometimes with small changes, appeared in several Facebook groups. Each post was tailored to the location where the child was last seen. The status posts and the pictures of the children are always fake. If you click on the link, you have to log in again with your Facebook user data. This is a phishing scam! The aim of the fraudsters is to take over Facebook accounts as well as the associated Facebook groups and Facebook pages.

A global problem

This deception is just a small part of a much larger problem. Not only in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but throughout the English-speaking world, there are Facebook groups with similarly made-up stories about children and dogs and much more. flooded, as we observe from Mimikama. The list of fake news ranges from alleged serial killers to missing seniors suffering from dementia. And it seems that nothing and no one is safe anymore: even stories about a “ killing his friend

The effects of deception

While these made-up stories are just a click and a momentary distraction for some, they have real impacts on people's lives. Real cries for help are overlooked or even viewed as fake . And Facebook groups that were intended to be a place to get local information and help are being rendered useless by the flood of misinformation. This also applies to serious competitions on Facebook. These are affected by the mass of fake competitions.

The goal behind the fake posts

Whenever these fakes are mentioned, many people ask themselves: Why? We've found that after these posts receive a lot of attention and engagement, they often get converted into something completely different. The “Edit” function is used here and instead of the desperate search ads for the four-legged friends, tempting images of idyllic houses and apartments that are supposedly for rent suddenly appear.

The ulterior motive? The edited posts benefit from the engagement of the original post. This can give the impression that a post has been recommended by many others and perhaps even by your own friends.

The trick behind it: The emotional charge of the original post led to massive interaction and thousands of users shared the post. By changing the content, they involuntarily became ambassadors for dubious real estate offers. ( fact check ).

We at Mimikama have how this works in detail here This also recently affected emotional deception by “saying” groups

There are many theories as to what the end goal of these manipulated posts might be. We at Mimikama have long recognized through our work that fraud, in whatever form, is always an issue. This starts with users' personal data, through phishing attempts , site and account theft , to spam emails and advertising calls. In the worst case, entire identities can be stolen or Trojans can often be hidden Is that you .

Facebook was asked for comment but has not responded. Regardless of which of the two theories is true, it is clear that such posts can cause harm, especially to those whose images have been used without their consent.

The real victims

But it's not just Facebook users who are deceived; the credibility of legitimate companies can also be damaged. The impact of the original fake posts can be even more devastating. Lynne Parker, founder of a Facebook group dedicated to exposing fake posts about animals , told Full Fact reporters how these fake posts harm real owners of missing animals. She pointed to a case where a real post about a missing dog was shared only 226 times, while a fake alert was shared 552 times at the same time.

But that's not all so far. Lisa Loops, director of the Muddy Paws Crime Facebook group , works closely with the owners of the two dogs, Pippin and Purdey. She said over 200 separate Facebook accounts have posted posts about the alleged missing girl “Sofia.” The real tragedy? The girl was never missing and her image was distributed without consent. Amid these findings, Loops and Parker share that Facebook doesn't always respond effectively to reported hoax posts. In some cases, the platform even claimed they were not their community guidelines .

The scourge of fake posts on Facebook

Social media has become an important part of many people's daily lives. However, this comes with an increase in misinformation and hoaxes.

Facebook groups have become a hotspot for such misleading posts. Groups that do not have an active administrator are particularly vulnerable to such deceptions.

It is not uncommon for administrators to be criticized for allowing such posts. Worse, some are even accused of collaborating with the authors of such fake posts.

Zimbabwe at the center: Where do many misleading Facebook posts come from?

It is not difficult to see the frustration and disappointment of users of this platform. Complaints about these posts are now commonplace. Many users have expressed their concern and disappointment, with some even threatening to leave their local groups. Interestingly, research has shown that many of these posts originally came from accounts with ties to Zimbabwe. However, it is unclear whether these accounts are actually controlled by people in Zimbabwe or whether they have been hacked.

Prosper Machenda, representative of the Zimbabwean fact-checking site “ ZimTracker ”, expressed doubts about the origin of the posts in August 2022. He emphasized that the investigations did not clearly indicate Zimbabwean authors. “In our efforts to contact those responsible for these misleading posts, we only received a response from one account. The owner stated that he was the victim of a hacker attack, but we were unable to verify this.”

When this connection became known, those behind it changed tactics and began using profiles with English-sounding names and pictures of Caucasian people. Additionally, they are increasingly using Facebook pages instead of personal profiles to provide an additional level of anonymity.

Facebook has tried to crack down on misinformation in the past, but certain decisions made by the company may have unwittingly encouraged these hoax posts. A striking example is the 2013 decision , which allowed users to edit their posts after publication. However, such changes do not affect the number of likes or shares, which creates a distorted popularity.

To better understand the problem and find possible solutions, Full Fact reached out to Meta (Facebook's parent company). Although Meta has taken some measures, such as deleting certain posts and accounts, the question remains whether this is enough to effectively combat the problem of misinformation.

Full Fact confronts meta

In an effort to combat the growing tide of misleading posts on Facebook, Full Fact reached out to Meta directly in April. In an official letter to the company's head of UK content regulation policy, the organization expressed deep concerns about the current handling of hoax posts .

Full Fact emphasized in the letter that Meta's current approach - namely the reactive deletion of posts after they have been identified by third parties - is far from sufficient. The risks posed by such hoax posts are described as “insidious,” and the frequency of such posts warrants greater proactive measures from Meta, according to Full Fact.

The letter ended with a clear request for Meta to outline the specific steps the company intends to take to address this growing problem. Disappointingly, this urgent appeal remained unanswered even after more than three months.


We have published over 30,000 articles on mimikama.org in recent years ! From missing and sick children to missing dogs to supposedly terrible accident videos and dubious fake competitions! However, it's not always easy to spot the fakes, especially since many use Facebook to post legitimate warnings!

Detecting fake news, scams and hoaxes can be challenging in this day and age when information spreads so quickly and in such volume. However, there are some general strategies and tips that can help:

  1. Source criticism:
    • Who published the information? Is the source reliable and recognized?
    • Check to see if other, reputable media outlets are telling the same story.
    • Watch out for websites that end with “.com.co”. Such sites often attempt to imitate legitimate news organizations.
  2. Check content:
    • Are there any noticeable spelling or grammatical errors?
    • Check the date of the article or message. Sometimes old stories are presented as new.
  3. Review images and videos:
    • Use reverse image search tools like Google Image Search or TinEye to see where else the image appeared.
    • Watch out for signs of image editing , especially in the age of AI.
    • Check whether videos have been taken out of context or manipulated.
  4. Check the facts:
    • Use fact-checking websites like ours.
    • Be skeptical of sensational or exaggerated headlines.
  5. Check the expertise:
    • If a statement comes from an “expert,” research their background and qualifications.
  6. Think critically:
    • Ask yourself whether the story is biased or too good to be true.
    • Consider whether the article is trying to elicit an emotional response.
  7. Ask others:
    • Do not share or spread news blindly. Discuss stories with friends or colleagues to get a different perspective.
  8. Check URLs and website designs:
    • Fake news websites often have URLs that resemble legitimate websites to inspire trust. Check the exact web address.
    • Poor design or lots of pop-ups can be signs of a less trustworthy site.
  9. Watch out for sponsored content and advertising:
    • Some articles are disguised as news but are actually sponsored content.
  10. Trust your gut feeling:
    • If something isn't right or seems too sensational, it probably is.

If you suspect a post may be a scam, check to see if it has been edited. Clicking on the edit history (the three horizontal dots at the top right of the post) will show you whether the original content has been changed.

However, Mimikama goes beyond pure educational work. In order to raise awareness of fake news and promote critical handling of media content, Mimikama offers a comprehensive media education program . Through workshops, online courses and information materials, users of all age groups are supported in recognizing fakes, checking their sources and thus ensuring informed and safe internet use. Media literacy is essential in our digital age and Mimikama actively contributes to strengthening it.

Clearly, this problem is deeply rooted and permeates different cultures and languages. We at Mimikama will remain committed to exposing this misinformation and raising awareness about these deceptive tactics.

Reference: Full Fact


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )