What was claimed
A 12 year-old was taken by strangers and attacked.
Our verdict
This article is highly suspicious and steals content from a number of unrelated stories.
Avoid this report about a child attack
25 March 2021
Links are being shared on Facebook to a story with the headline “12 year old girl was forced to endure a 15-minute journey before being attacked in an isolated spot”.
This is a false story about a girl called Ellie Morrad alleged to have been reported missing. It includes descriptions of suspects and what appears to be a video of her kidnap.
If you find this story do not click the link.
The links have been shared multiple times but with differing place names at the start of each post. A screengrab of the link has also been shared by other Facebook users warning people of the scam.
They have all been flagged by Google as “Deceptive” and bear similarities to other scam posts we’ve fact checked.
Almost everything in this post has been taken from other unrelated news articles.
A reverse image search shows the photo is in fact of Mallory Grossman, a 12 year-old from New Jersey who ended her own life in 2017. Her parents have campaigned to introduce a new anti-bullying law, dubbed “Mallory’s Law”, following allegations the 12 year-old was being bullied before her death.
It also includes text taken from a 2015 BBC report about a 14-year-old girl who was raped in Manchester.
Another screengrab shows that the article includes a video from a 2019 report of an attack on a teenager in Sydney, Australia.