What was claimed
A photo shows a girl who has gone missing in Southport or Worcester and is being sought by her family.
Our verdict
False. The photograph is of a teenager who went missing last year in the US and was found safe shortly after.
‘Missing’ daughter hoax posts shared on Facebook
Facebook posts claiming to show a photo of a young woman who has gone missing in the UK are hoaxes.
One such post has been shared in a public group for residents of Southport in Merseyside with the caption: “My daughter has been missing since June 20th! 9days It only takes two seconds to share! #southport
“Her name is: Paulah Williams Age:15 Height: 5'3 Weight: 115 Paulah drives a 2001 Honda Civic. She was last seen wearing a black hoodie, crocs and jeans.”
A post published in a group for residents of Worcester in the West Midlands features identical wording except for the location.
Images accompanying both posts feature a young woman standing beside a silver car holding up what appears to be a driving licence.
However, the person pictured isn’t missing in either of these locations. According to the Rowan County Sheriff's Office, a law enforcement agency based in the US state of North Carolina, the picture shows a 17-year-old with a different name who went missing from her Rowan County home in mid-June 2024. She was located safely a few days later.
Both West Mercia Police and Merseyside Police have confirmed that no one of the name Paulah Williams has been reported missing in their areas.
A 2023 Full Fact investigation into these types of hoaxes, which featured in an episode of BBC One’s Rip Off Britain, found the posts are often edited later to promote something completely different, such as a property listing or cashback site.
You can find more of our work writing about these types of hoaxes on our website, including a guide with some tips on how to identify them.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the picture is actually of a teenager who went missing in the US last year.