Post claiming Townsville girl injured in hit and run shared hundreds of times was debunked by police

A ‘disgusting’ post claiming a North Queensland girl had been left ‘unconscious’ and unidentified in hospital has gained traction online – but it’s raised questions from authorities.

A “disgusting” scam which has gained traction on a North Queensland social media page has been debunked by police.

The photos and text were posted to local Townsville Facebook group, Townsville Garage Sales, on Monday morning.

The post called for account holders to share the post to help find the family of a young girl, who the poster claimed had been left unconscious after a hit and run.

“We Need Your Help To Identify this little girl who was riding her bike and got involved in a Hit & run few hours ago in Townsville,” the poorly-written post read.

“The Deputies are not Able to identify Her, because she has No ID with Her,

A scam post claiming a girl from Townsville was involved in a hit and run was debunked by police.

“The suspect is currently on the run & the girl is still unconscious in Hospital. Please bump Post so that Family can see.”

Comments on the post were disabled by the supposed poster, whose account was brand-new and listed as a ‘Supermarket/Convenience store’ – rather than a personal account.

At the time of publication the post had been shared more than 380 times.

Questions regarding the validity of the incident were put to Queensland Police, with a spokeswoman confirming there had been no such incident in the entire state in the last three days.

Some keen-eyed commenters put their two-cents in after noticing their friend’s had shared the scam post.

“Scam … we don’t have deputies,” one account holder wrote.

Another asked how it was possible for the poster to have access to dashcam footage of the incident, if the suspect was still on the run.

“I’m calling scam on this one,” another said.

For more information on scams, go to: https://bit.ly/3VwYar0

Originally published as Post claiming Townsville girl injured in hit and run shared hundreds of times was debunked by police