Hoax posts about ‘missing’ man called Gerald spread across UK

A hoax alert about an elderly missing man with dementia named Gerald has been shared more than 1,600 times in Facebook groups across the UK. 

Full Fact has seen examples of this post in social media groups serving Stockport (Greater Manchester), Grimsby (Lincolnshire), Staines (Surrey), Caerphilly (Wales), Folkestone (Kent), Harrogate (North Yorkshire), Port Talbot (Wales) and the Isle of Wight. 

The posts all use very similar text, with one example saying: “FLOOD YOUR FEEDS ~ MISSING!! in Stockport.

“Our Dad, Gerald Robertson aged 76 drove out last night with his dog Jack and he still hasn't returned. He doesn't know where he's going, he has dementia. 

“There is a silver alert activated on him. Please help bump this post so we can get him home safely.” 

The location identified in the post changes depending on where the Facebook group is based, and some of the posts use different surnames such as Sternberg and Tierney. 

All the posts use the same picture, of a man with a white moustache wearing a bright green t-shirt sitting in a car, with a small grey French bulldog on his lap.  

But this is not a real alert. We have previously checked many different posts using near-identical wording. 

We were able to trace the picture back to a post shared by a Facebook page for a dog rescue organisation based in Texas, which identified the man pictured as Ricky and the dog as Begonia. Both are visible in another picture shared by the page.  

Police in Scotland have previously shared another version of the post in order to warn about fake alerts, after one claimed that ‘Gerald Sternberg’ had gone missing in Dunoon.  

The reference to “silver alerts” is an indication that the posts are likely to have originated in the US as the system—designed to notify the public about missing people, usually those who are elderly with dementia or similar conditions—only operates there.

We have previously checked many similar posts shared to Facebook groups which falsely raise an alarm for other missing children, abandoned infants or injured dogs, and recently published an investigation into how and why these posts are shared so widely. 

These posts are often edited later to promote property listings, with comments frequently disabled, so other social media users are unable to identify the post as a hoax. 

These types of posts could cause local community groups to become overwhelmed with false information and potentially result in genuine appeals being ignored or—perhaps worse—criticised as fake. We have written to Facebook’s parent company Meta expressing these concerns and have asked the company to take stronger action in response to this problem. 

It’s always worth checking whether content is real before you share it. We have written a guide on how to verify online images which you can read here and tips to spot if a Facebook post is a hoax here.

Image courtesy of Solen Feyissa