Elderly Woman’s Yoda Toy Photo Unveils Shocking Bait-and-Switch Scam

Facebook posts featuring an elderly woman holding a Yoda toy claim she has been found in multiple places, including Texas, Arizona, and Italy.

These viral posts circulate on Facebook, seeking to raise alarm about a missing woman with dementia. They state the woman appeared at the poster’s home, disoriented, and holding the toy she supposedly took from their daughter.

The posts encourage readers to share the image widely to help locate the woman’s family. However, a VERIFY inquiry reveals the posts are not valid and serve as bait-and-switch scams.

Scammers use the photo, spread online under various false contexts over the years, to exploit emotions and prompt shares. After achieving reach, they replace the post’s content with different messages and malicious links.

Although the posts appear in local buy-and-sell groups, they inconsistently state locations where the woman was found. This includes places like Surprise, Arizona, and Cagliari, Italy—common in scam scenarios involving minimal details and changing locations.

Upon reviewing Silver Alerts for the mentioned areas, no matching images or descriptions surfaced. Additionally, the profile of the user posting in a Lubbock, Texas group raised suspicions due to multiple dubious home rental offers, another frequent bait-and-switch tactic.

A reverse image search conducted by VERIFY indicated that the woman’s photo has been recirculated with differing captions for at least four years. The earliest found instance was from 2020, depicting the woman with affection for her toy Yoda, unlinked to any missing persons’ reports.

Facebook scams leveraging sensitive topics like missing individuals aim to elicit high engagement before altering the posts. The Better Business Bureau notes these altered posts often link to deceitful ads or phishing sites.

To avoid falling for such scams, examining the poster’s profile and conducting reverse image searches for inconsistencies are crucial steps. Awareness can help mitigate the spread of false information and protect users from potential fraud.