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Sandra Yi Reporting You may have seen it, a flier about a missing teenage girl. There's a picture and a plea for any information as to her whereabouts, but it isn't what it seems.
Someone put up the poster in a West Jordan business. At first glance, it may look like any other flier for a missing child. Related emails going around say this girl is from Philadelphia and has been missing for two weeks. But it was all a joke and that has some people concerned.
Statistics show hundreds of thousands of children have been reported missing. This poster claims 13-year old Ashley Flores is one of them. Her picture and pleas for help have circulated online.
Paul Murphy, Attorney General's Office: "You read them and you go, 'Oh my gosh, this girl is missing. I've got to do something about it.'"
But a closer look may raise some eyebrows.
Tim Hollinger, U-SEARCH: "My first reaction is, how bad do they want to find this person, because there's no contact number, no height, weight, any description, except that it's a missing 13-year old girl."
Tim Hollinger founded the group U-SEARCH during the Elizabeth Smart case. U-SEARCH volunteers now help in the search for missing children, most recently, Destiny Norton. Hollinger says he's been asked to help in other cases. Not all of them are legitimate.
A little research revealed this one is also a hoax that originated back East. According to an urban legends website, a friend of the girl wrote it as a joke and sent it to friends, and it quickly reached thousands of inboxes nationwide.
Tim Hollinger: "It's actually more common than I'd like to think. A lot of these go around."
Paul Murphy: "They're like a virus that spread all across the world."
People still fall for them. Someone recently posted the flier in a West Jordan business. The Utah Attorney Generals' Office oversees the Amber Alert. Spokesperson Paul Murphy worries hoaxes like this one may affect its urgency.
Paul Murphy: "Basically, they're taking something that's an effective way to help abducted children, and they're just being smart alecs and putting bad information out there and hurting a lot of people in the process."
Tim Hollinger: "It does hurt search efforts in the sense that the more of these that go out there that are hoaxes detracts from the ones that are actually truly missing."
Like most urban legends, this one is sure to resurface again, somewhere else. There are ways to check out if a missing persons flier like this one is legitimate. One resource is the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
