Alarming posts about missing children and animals are circulating through Facebook groups around the country. Unsuspecting people in Hubbard are the latest victims of what appears to be a scam as they unknowingly share the misleading posts.

Hubbard's police chief believes the posts are fraudulent and says people should be cautious of the source.

"We haven't had [any] reports of any child missing in town, obviously if you don't hear it from a credible news source or from us," Chief Robert Thompson said.

This is how the scam works: The scammer makes a post asking people to share it, long after the post gets enough shares the scammers change the posts original message to include links that can steal personal information from the Facebook user.

One of the Facebook posts reads "HELP!!! My son Brandon Smith took off this morning with our dog hank. He is autistic and has been missing for eight hours if anyone sees him please PM me please re-post on any sites. I already contacted police."

The people sharing it are usually unaware of the fraudulent links they are now sharing with Facebook friends. Technology consultant Steve Kristan, says people should first identify the validity of the initial poster.

"Do they have a photograph? Do they have other things in their profile? And also look at the comments," Kristan advised.

Kristan says a frozen or closed comment section can indicate the post is a scam.