A Facebook post claiming a girl has disappeared after getting into a stranger's car in Basingstoke has been identified as fake news by The Gazette.

Several accounts in Basingstoke shared the fake news story to local Facebook groups about a girl named Kate on Sunday.

The Gazette was contacted by well-meaning individuals who were concerned about the girl's welfare.

However we have identified that this is a fake news story and experts say it appears to be an internet scam to gather user's Facebook details. 

Hampshire Constabulary has confirmed they have no missing person reports of this nature in Basingstoke.

The Gazette has identified the girl pictured in the fake news story as Natalia Grace Bennett, a Ukrainian orphan who appeared on American talk show Dr Phil. While the video in the article was recorded in India.

One Basingstoke resident, who shared the article, said: "On seeing the post, I just thought, 'Oh no! Poor little girl. I hope she is found safe and well."

She said she thought it was real as it had a CCTV of the white van allegedly involved.

She added: "I just didn't think someone would be sick enough to do fake news." 

According to fact-checking website Full Fact, variations of this scam have been in circulation since March.

All posts contain a similar theme - claims a girl has vanished and needs help. They all link to a website mocked up to look like a news article. 

In the Basingstoke-version of the scam, the falsified news story reads: “Everything happened on Monday, August 24, 2020 at 10am. Girl was on a walk with her family. She told her brother that she is going to play with puppy.

“After 15 minutes, the parents noticed that the girl was nowhere to be found. The only witnesses of her disappearance was a pedestrian who saw Kate walking into the stranger’s car. Parents called police. Police got video from CCTV. On video, we can see a 40-year-old man with a moment.”

The article goes onto to say the parents believe in the “power of social media” and are urging “as many people as possible” to share the news.

Unfortunately, a number of people in Basingstoke shared the article and could have inadvertently opened themselves up to security risks.

A computer security expert told The Gazette: “To the untrained eye, this may appear to be a regular news item it is actually a highly dangerous piece of fake news.

“The tells are things such as the formatting of the story and the inconsistencies and grammatical errors. The date will change depending on what day the user accesses the link.

“Anyone who comes across this link should not click on it.”

The Gazette has contacted the National Cyber Security Centre for comment.

Full Fact reported a similar scam was being circulated in March and was been adapted for many different UK locations with different images but with the same goal to get unsuspecting people to enter their Facebook details.