No police officer missing in Buckeye despite claims made by scam social media post: PD
Buckeye PD warn about missing officer scam post
Officials with the Buckeye Police Department say they do not have a police officer missing, despite claims made by a Facebook post that officials are denouncing as scam. In fact, the officer featured in the post does not work for an Arizona police agency.
BUCKEYE, Ariz. - Buckeye Police officials are warning the public about an online scam involving claims a police officer has gone missing in the West Valley city.
What they're saying:
In a statement posted on the department's Facebook page on March 30, officials said, in no uncertain terms, that they don't have a missing police officer.
"This is a scam," read a portion of the post. "Scammers will often exploit your emotions to gain your personal information."
Person in photo is a police officer, but not in Arizona
In their post on the scam, Buckeye Police officials included a screenshot of the post, which was posted to a Facebook group named "Buckeye, AZ Auction and Yard Sale."
Dig deeper:
In the scam post, the "missing officer" was identified as "Katie Cunningham." We have learned that similar posts, with the same photo, have appeared in other parts of the country, including California, New Jersey, and Oregon. One post was even found on a United Kingdom-focused group.
On March 28, police in Great Falls, Mont. said Cunningham is a sergeant with the department, but she is not missing.
"We just spoke to her, and she is alive and well at Great Falls High, working as the [school resource officer] supervisor," read a portion of Great Falls Police's post. "We're not sure what the scammers hope to gain by making posts like this."
What you can do:
Buckeye Police officials say people should "always be suspicious of any post like this that lacks specific details like time, location or police contact info."
"Always think twice before clicking suspicious links or providing banking information if the post is soliciting donations," read a portion of the post.