Ashley Flores Missing Child Hoax
Summary:Email forward claims that 13-year-old Ashley Flores is missing from Philadelphia.
Status:False
Update:May 2007: A new version of this hoax claims that Ashley Flores is missing from Mandurah in Western Australia (details below).
Example:(Submitted May 2006)
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 on. 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:
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.
This email forward claims that 13-year-old Ashley Flores is missing from Philadelphia. However, I can find no credible reports that back up this claim and there is very strong evidence that the message is a hoax.
Information in an
About.com article indicates that, although Ashley Flores is a real person, she is not missing and is older than 13. Apparently, this "missing child" message started as a joke perpetrated by a friend of Ashley's that got completely out of hand.
The structure and much of the wording of the message is very similar to that of an older hoax email (included below) that claims a child named Penny Brown is missing. Both messages include the information about the "girl from Stevens Point" and there are a number of other similarities. For example, the Penny Brown hoax includes the following:
We have a store manager (Wal-Mart) from Longs, SC who has a 9 year old daughter who has been missing for 2 weeks. Keep the picture moving on. With luck on her side she will be found
The Ashley Flores message includes a virtually identical paragraph with some minor details changed.
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 on. With luck on her side she will be found.
These strong similarities suggest that Ashley's "friend" has simply used the older hoax message as a template, altered the details a little and substituted a new photograph before sending it onward.
Searches of news and other sources reveal no information about a missing child named Ashley Flores. There is nothing about this supposed missing child on the
Philadelphia Police Department Website. Searches on the website of the
National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and others sites that deal with missing children also reveal no information about a child named Ashley Flores.
Like others of its kind, the message does not include any way of verifying the name, age and circumstances of the youngster depicted in the attached photograph. Emails sent to the address listed in the message receive no replies.
While the author of the message may not have intended to cause serious harm or concern, false messages about missing children are especially nasty. Like its predecessor, this message is likely to keep circulating for months or years to come. If you receive this message, please inform the sender that it is a hoax and
do not forward it to others.
Update:
In May 2007, I began receiving versions of the hoax that claimed Ashley was missing from
Mandurah, a city south of Perth in Western Australia. As with the earlier version, the information in the message is untrue.
An example of the Australian version:
Subject: FW: Mandurah - Missing Girl ***Please Circulate This***
Please look at the picture, read what her mother says, then forward his message on.
Maybe if everyone passes this on, someone will see this child.
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 two weeks now .
It is still not too late. Please help us. If anyone any
where knows anything, please contact me at:
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.
Penny Brown Hoax example:
amber alert
please look at the picture, read what her father says, then forward his message on.
Maybe if every one 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 store manager (Wal-Mart) from Longs, SC who has a 9 year old daughter who has been missing for 2 weeks. Keep the picture moving on. 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 9 year old girl, Penny Brown, is missing. She has been missing for now two weeks.. It is still not too late. Please help us. If anyone anywhere knows anything, please contact me at: [EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED] I am including a picture of her.V All prayers are appreciated!!
It only takes 2 seconds to forward this on. If it was your child, you would want all the help you could get
Last updated: 16th May 2007
First published: May 2006
Write-up by Brett M.Christensen
