I recently received an e-mail requesting help in the search for Ashley Flores. I've actually received the e-mail, which includes a photo of a cute teenage girl, a couple of times, which made me suspicious. The e-mail reads like this:
Please look at the picture, read what her mother says, then forward this message on.
Maybe if everyone passes this on, someone will see this child. That is how the girl from Stevens Point was found, by circulation of her picture on TV. The internet circulates even overseas, South America, and Canada etc. Thanks. Please pass this to everyone in your address book.
We have a Deli manager (Acme Markets) from Philadelphia, Pa who has a 13 year old daughter who has been missing for 2 weeks. Keep the picture moving. With luck on her side she will be found.
"I am asking you all, begging you to please forward this email on to anyone and everyone you know, PLEASE. My 13 year old girl, Ashley Flores, is missing. She has been missing for now two weeks.
It is still not too late. Please help us. If anyone any where knows anything, please contact me at: mailto:HelpfindAshleyFlores@yahoo.com. I am including a picture of her. All prayers are appreciated!!"
It only takes 2 seconds to forward this. If it was your child, you would want all the help you could get.
Here's the problem... the girl isn't missing. In fact, she may not even be real! A quick Google search revealed the following links:
http://www.truthorfiction.com
http://www.breakthechain.org
I love the idea that new media can help find missing and exploited children. Between e-mail, chat, blogs, online communities (like Gather) and podcasts, parents and officials can reach out to more people, more quickly than ever before.
The problem is, if we continue to forward e-mails like the one I received, they will become like a car alarm... ignored.
God forbid anything happen to my children. But if it does, I want these channels of communications to be available and reliable. So, I'm going to "break the chain." Before I forward on these messages, or those virus warnings, I'm going to check it out.
