Gracie Mae Thompson, a 15-year-old teenager, has been missing from Kittitas County and the whole community is rather disturbed. The last time Gracie was seen was on July 22nd and since then, her relatives and acquaintances have been tirelessly looking for any indications of where she could be. However, questions are being asked concerning this matter as social media has taken up it with dubious inconsistency suggesting that this might be a sad truth or just merely part of the meanest prank ever played on someone.
Who Is Gracie Mae Thompson?
Gracie Mae Thompson, a petit 5’2″ teenager, about 103 pounds in weight, had her hair recently dyed from its natural strawberry blonde to black. It is reported that on the day of her disappearance, she was wearing a black pair of shorts and a black top which are the details her family hopes may be helpful for identification. On social media, her mother has been making emotional appeals hoping that members of the public will share the story and help in finding her daughter.
Unexplained Delays and Inconsistencies
Though it is often urgent when a child goes missing, there are significant delays and inconsistencies in the information being spread about Gracie. For instance, although Gracie allegedly went missing on July 22nd, the first posts about her case on social media did not appear until weeks afterwards which has confused many people. Typically, when teenagers disappear, Amber Alerts are quickly issued and the media jumps on it. But in this case, we have seen no such alerts or news stories implying that this could be another ‘fake news’ article.
Besides, there are conflicting reports regarding where Gracie was last seen. While one post says she was last spotted in Odessa; others mention Stockton, Pickens County or even Belle. These variations coupled with the fact that these stories are being shared among Facebook sales groups such as Stuff For Sale; Upper/Lower Kittitas County Auction and Odessa Texas Trading Post instead of official channels contribute to an increasing belief that this might be a hoax case of a missing person.
Is This a Dangerous Scam?
There are now more people looking closely into what has happened to Gracie and there is a growing fear that it could be part of a wider Internet scam. It has been said that links associated with the updates about her such as the one leading to the site called “obituaryremembrance.info” have been flagged as potentially dangerous by antiviruses. These hyperlinks can also serve as loopholes for hackers who might intend to get personal information, infiltrate social media accounts or introduce malware into users’ devices.
This particular warning was posted by Trina Burns on their Facebook account and she supports The Alexis Ware Act to Enhance Missing Persons Investigations which aims at protecting children who go missing from their parents. Such admonition has come in line with increasing online scams on account of cunningly exploiting public sympathy for financial benefits.
Protecting Yourself from Online Scams
It is unfortunate to happen, but one should be wary in dealing with such matters. The hackers are increasingly relying on bogus missing people posts to spread malware and steal people’s details. Before you start sharing any information about missing persons, try and confirm the facts through trusted channels such as police detachments or credible media houses. Consequently, this will save a lot of people from being misled and help shield many individuals from falling prey to fraudsters.