KEWAUNEE, Wis. (WBAY) – A scam making the rounds on Facebook says there’s a child missing in Kewaunee.

The Kewaunee County Sheriff’s Office wants to warn people about this scam that was posted on the Door Kewaunee Buy Sell Trade page.

The post talks about how a little boy with autism went missing in Kewaunee, but the sheriff’s office says there has been no report about this to the emergency dispatch center.

Of course, the reaction is to be concerned about the child, but unfortunately, you should be concerned with getting scammed.

Officials say these posts often will appear on rummage sale or resale pages — so the next scam might name a child in another community. The same child was reported missing in Evansville, Ind., Middletown, N.Y., and Spring Valley, N.Y.

A similar missing-child scam in Moorhead, Minn., claimed police and “neighbours” (sic) were trying to identify a found child.

The posts usually have no information for the public and no contact information. The key giveaway is, if you look at the profile of the person who created the post, usually it’s nothing but a single photo in that profile.

Do not engage with that person.

Check with reliable law enforcement pages for that area — in this case, Kewaunee. They would be the ones to post this vital information or they’ll send a news release to the media. Not to be self-serving, but check with your First Alert station. That information is often sent directly to us.

Use good judgment. If it looks fake, it probably is.

If you’re still concerned, you can call your local police to confirm if there’s a missing child.

But don’t take the bait and possibly be led into a dangerous situation for yourself.

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