An appeal for a missing boy in the area has been ruled a hoax by a fact checkers charity.

Full Fact published a report that found appeals for 'Justin Smith from Bushey' were really sharing a photo of a real New York State (USA) child who went missing in July, but was later found.

It highlighted Bushey, Bristol, Lancing, Grimsby, Exeter, and Gloucestershire as places where the picture was shared claiming he was from the area.

The charity said that such hoax missing person appeals are widespread, with scammers often editing the posts later to promote things like property listings.

Watford Observer: The post labelled a 'hoax' by Full FactThe post labelled a 'hoax' by Full Fact (Image: Facebook/Newsquest)

The Watford Observer has seen similar posts shared in local groups appealing for the public’s help to find missing teens.

Each of these had been posted to community groups across the country with the same wording.

One for a 79-year-old 'from Abbots Langley', like the appeal Full Fact checked, mentions a "silver alert" which only exists in the US.

Watford Observer: Faces have been covered as scammers use real people's photosFaces have been covered as scammers use real people's photos (Image: Facebook/Newsquest)

All had the comments turned off, which Full Fact highlighted as “another sign that the appeals are not genuine”. It added that this may be a way of “preventing people commenting to warn others of the hoax”.

The charity has written to Facebook’s parent company Meta calling for stronger action in response to the problem.

It fears people may end up dismissing genuine appeals as fake if groups are overwhelmed by false information.