MEDIA, PA — “Media, PA, Everyone’s Hometown” used to be a go-to Facebook page for anyone in and around Media. For years, the page was a thriving digital community hub, with residents sharing their experiences with business, asking questions, helping find missing pets, and more.

But now, the page has been forsaken by its lone administrator, who is nowhere to be found online. And its abandonment has led the page to become a breeding ground for spam, scams, and misinformation.

Missing Kids

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Two separate members of the group posted the same photos Tuesday, July 23. The posts claim Media Police found a newborn child that morning.

Both posts feature the same photos read exactly the same: “#BREAKING UPDATE: A newborn baby has been found by the police this morning here in #mediapa Let us flood our feeds and help identify who this newborn baby belongs to.” Both posts also turned off the ability to comment.

Media Police Chief Matt Egan told Patch he was unaware of any newborn children found in the borough as of Tuesday morning. And a member of the Delaware County government, who lives in Media and works with police, told Patch the officers in the photo are most assuredly not Media Borough Police officers.

Other recent posts have mentioned Charlotte Sena, a 9-year-old girl who was missing, then found, in New York State back in 2023. Craig Ross Jr. later admitted to abducting the child and was sentenced to nearly 50 years in prison.

A May 13 report by KGET News in Bakersfield, California says these posts aim to prey on users kindness and concern over missing people and pets.

“Instead of a plea to help find a missing child, the post now advises people they are entitled to receive $300 cash, perhaps from some government program, if they click the link and sign up,” KGET reporter Robert Price wrote. “The rewritten post retains all of those likes and shares – possibly including people you know.”

These links could lead to users’ information and data being accessed by nefarious entities, the report states.

Freebies

Free food is another common bait post on the page. Numerous people share the same images and captions, touting free groceries, typically meats.

These posts link to other Facebook groups with names such as “Free(USA) STUFF” and “All free stuff and giveaways.”

But, when looking at posts in those groups, members never seem to get the free offerings.

“Tomorrow is the 21st of July. Anyone who is interested in a Free Meat Bundle Box say Me’ if you interested,” a recent post in one “free” group reads. The comments are flooded with members commenting “me” in hopes of getting free food, items, and more amid hard economic times.

Some posts also include links to sign up for free items and food. Members have commented that the sign-up links would not let them apply for the giveaways.

Those links typically lead to a website billing itself as “USA Assistance Guide.”

“Our goal is to make sure people and families in need have the ability to find help near their home,” the homepage reads. “With our vast information resources and ability to combine that information in a searchable way, we figured the best way for us to help was to put it at the fingertips of those who need it most. Whatever your struggle, we hope you can find the help you require here.”

When calling the phone number listed on the website, callers will hear a message saying: “The number you dialed is not in service at this time.” Patch has emailed USA Assistance Guide for more information.

The website lists the copyright holder as “C4R Media Corp.” C4R Media Corp’s profile on the Better Business Bureau is peculiar.

Its website link on the BBB page takes you to a website called “BestDayEverSweeps,” seemingly a lottery-focused website. And its phone number connects you to tax software company Avalara. Patch has reached out to Avalara for more information.

Other links on the BBB page take you to a website that focuses on class action lawsuits and another that focuses on personal finance. Patch has reached out to these websites for information.

BestDayEverSweeps’s website did feature a phone number that indicated it belonged to the website. Patch left a voice message at that number asking for information about the site.

Other members of these groups will inquire about the locations of these giveaways. In reality, there seems to never actually be giveaways ever, anywhere.

Website ScamPulse.com features CR4 Media Corp, with users saying they’ve repeatedly unsubscribed from the groups email list, yet the messages and emails persist.

CR4 Media Corp’s address is listed as 24 W Railroad Ave # 139, Tenafly, NJ. That address is shared by Phoneticom LLC, which a 2016 PennLive article on unauthorized phone bill charges says is among entities that levied the bogus charges.

Reivews on the BBB website are similar. Users report being inundated with text and emails from the group.

Delco resident and owner of M Shop 360 in Broomall Pat DiCola manages numerous Facebook groups in the Media area. He suspects the giveaway pages are likely building up members to later sell the group off. The more members, the higher the price.

In doing so, whoever buys the page for whatever purpose would be essentially buying the attention of hundreds to thousands of members — all potential customers, he said.

Suspicious Services

Other posts purport to offer services such as duct cleaning, car detailing, and homes for rent.

Patch contacted one poster offering duct cleaning services, “Jonathan Bell.” The man who said he was Bell told Patch he lives in Binghamton, New York, not in Media, which his post claimed.

A search for Bell’s name on Facebook shows similar posts in groups related to Voorhees, New Jersey; Hudson, New York; Green County, New York; and Austerlitz, New York.

Bell said he has someone who does duct cleaning for him in the Media area and said that person would contact Patch for a follow-up. As of publication time, no one has contacted Patch regarding duct cleaning services in Media.

Another poster, Jason Sternberg, advertised car detailing services on the page. Patch contacted Sternberg about the post.

Sternberg replied via Facebook Messenger. When asked to speak via telephone, Sternberg replied: “I am currently busy with important work, may take time. It will be easy for me if you message me.”

Sternberg’s personal Facebook page lists him as a married Quakertown resident from Philadelphia who studied at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. No visible posts on his page were related to the Philadelphia area. Despite several attempts to get Sternberg to contact Patch via phone, Sternberg went silent when asked if a phone number provided was his own.

Patch also contacted a number listed for garage door repair services. When asked to speak to the company’s owner, the person who claimed to be named Nathan said the owner would contact Patch. So far, no one has contacted Patch regarding garage door repair work.

DiCola said in these solicitations for duct cleaning, car detailing, and other work, it’s often people in locations such as India or Pakistan generating leads for contractors or businesses.

An acquaintance of his actually contacted someone offering spurious duct cleaning services on a local Facebook group.

He provided an address that was vacant and used a Google Voice number to set up the service call.

Surprisingly, someone showed up, DiCola said. The person who set up the “sting” got a call from someone with an American accent, saying they were at the address provided, even confirming the color of the front door.

Egan said luckily the police department has not gotten any major reports of locals being scammed by this Facebook group.

“The whole thing with Facebook is you can be anywhere and everywhere,” he said.

Media Borough proper, he said, is only about three quarters of a square mile, while the Media mailing address is 25 square miles.

“With the internet, it seems like Media has grown even bigger.”

The Facebook page in question has more than 18,000 members.

Egan said his department has had people from a far as Illinois contact them regarding posts they’ve seen on the Facebook group.

The Missing Admin

The “Media, PA, Everyone’s Hometown” administrator is listed as Dan Brown. Brown’s Facebook activity seemed to stop in 2014. It’s unclear what led Brown to abandon social media all together.

Members of the page concerned about the apparent spam and scam posts have shared their frustration on the page. Many say they’ve attempted to contact Brown regarding the page’s devolution into digital chaos, but none have received a response from Brown.

Brown’s personal page lists him as a former Villanova University student who is living in Media.

About 10 years ago when Brown was active, he often used the page to share photos around Media, celebrate milestones for locals, and touting local businesses. Patch contacted several people who Brown had tagged in posts in hopes of learning more about the page administrator, none of whom could provide any information on him.

New Groups Emerge

The bogus posts on the Facebook page has led others to form new pages, such as “Media, PA – A good place to be” and “Media – Everyone’s Hometown NO SPAM!”

Jamie Kai, who is one of the administrators of “Media, PA – A good place to be,” told Patch her group was created in response to the now infamous group.

Susan Lowes, who manages the “NO SPAM” group, said the same thing.

“I started the ‘NO SPAM’ Media group just because of this crap,” she told Patch.

Kai and fellow administrator Dan Langille got frustrated at obnoxious comments. For example, a member might post a question about traffic, and the comment would muddy the water with all kinds of topics, she said.

She said she spends about 30 minutes a day moderating content on her group, which has about 8,500 members. Scammers and spammers have tells, she said.

DiCola said between his nine groups, he has to ban or deny anywhere from 400 to 500 users a week.

One group he manages in West Chester has more people banned from participating than approved members, he said.

A key factor in weeding out the bots, spammers, and scammers is setting up keywords that Facebook will flag. Those include “duct,” “detailing,” and “garage.” However, these posters have seemingly begun skirting keyword filters by typing “d’ucts” instead of “ducts,” as done in a recent post on the beleaguered Media group

Facebook, he said, could help limit the number of these users in local groups by allowing groups to be region locked. Business pages can be limited to the United States only, for example, but groups do not have that capability.

DiCola claims Facebook is working on implementing that feature for groups, but suggests doing so would undermine the tech giant’s bottom line, as more users means more eyes on advertisements, which means more revenue.

Patch has reached out to Facebook for information and comment and will update the story when additional details are made available.