Boy reported missing existed only on Facebook

[Hum]

Woman in custody after boy reported missing on Friday and parents turn out to be a construct of false Facebook accounts.

Police searching for two-year-old Chayson Basinio knew it was a race against time to find the missing child, who had reportedly disappeared from a supermarket car park.

The local judge opened an inquiry for kidnapping and sequestration and police divers dredged a lake, fearing the child may have drowned.

As the days passed without any leads or clues, detectives at Moulins in the Auvergne prepared to warn relatives who had alerted them that they could find no trace of the boy.

Which, in the circumstances, was hardly surprising. In fact, neither Chayson Basinio nor his parents existed ? except in the virtual world of social media.

Police had found photographs allegedly of the boy and his father, Rayane Basinio, 20, on Facebook, but absolutely no evidence that they were real.

Eric Mazaud, the public prosecutor, said the investigation had changed, but charges would be made.

"The inquiry for kidnapping and sequestration has obviously been redirected into one of reporting an imaginary crime or offence," Mazaud said.

"It [the inquiry] was long and complicated but we can now say that the young Chayson has never existed and nor have his father or mother."

The boy was reported missing on Friday by a woman who claimed to be the boy's great-aunt. She told officers she had last seen the child the previous week near a supermarket and believed he had been kidnapped. She told detectives that Basinio and the boy's mother had separated and she had no idea where they were.

Detectives continued to search for the boy, but became suspicious after noting inconsistencies in her story. The woman, who has not been named, is now in police custody. She faces up to six months in prison and a ?7,500 (?6,180) fine if found guilty of inventing a crime.

Police said her teenage daughter and a cousin ? both minors ? who are believed to have set up the false Facebook account and pirated pictures from other accounts on the site were also being questioned.

 

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[AsherGZ]

Haha, this is crazy beyond words!

[Hum]

Can I create children on Facebook, and claim them as a tax deduction ? :shifty:

[FloatingFatMan]

Can I create children on Facebook, and claim them as a tax deduction ? :shifty:

 

Sure you can. Just don't be too surprised about Big Bubba becoming your special friend after the IRS catch you. ;)

[riahc3]

1: The only reason to do this is to setup a donations site and scam people. They got the police involved so it can seem more legit.

2: A 2 year-old having Facebook? That itself is strange.

[compl3x]

Massive waste of public resources. People who do stupid stuff like this really bother me. Imagine if, as a mere coincidence, an actual child was also missing and the authorities had to split their resources between the real kids and the fictional one.

[HawkMan]

1: The only reason to do this is to setup a donations site and scam people. They got the police involved so it can seem more legit.

2: A 2 year-old having Facebook? That itself is strange.

 

The parents had facebook, the kid existed on their facebook pages...

[LimeMaster]

Well, if it is made up, then I am not sure what she was hoping to achieve. 

[T3X4S]

munchausen syndrome ?