Warning over social media ‘game’ that urges children to go missing for 48 hours.

Successful search for genuine missing girl prompts Kinross officer to flag up dangers of internet challenge

Police involved in a search for a teenager have warned that children may be going missing as a result of a sinister new Facebook craze reaching Scotland.

The craze involves a child being ‘nominated’ by another Facebook user to disappear for up to 48 hours while having no contact with anyone else.

Kinross-based PC Atholl Spalding issued a warning to parents after he was involved in the ultimately successful search for a missing teenager.

The schoolgirl was discovered safe and well yesterday afternoon after being reported missing from her Fife home on Wednesday.

A large-scale police operation was carried out which led to her being found.

While there was no suggestion she had engaged in the online challenge, Mr Spalding warned parents of its spread.

He said: “Seeing and hearing that there may be a new craze sweeping Facebook, where you nominate a friend to stay missing for up to 48 hours – hence police involvement.

“Hope this isn’t true. The resources into vulnerable missing persons are stretching the police to our limit.”

He said: “Kids are nominating each other to stay missing and stay off social media until found. This needs the word spread, so parents are aware. Shocking if true and draining police resources for a game of hide and seek.”

The officer later tweeted: “Spent ten hours looking for vulnerable missing person last night. Glad to hear the young person has been found safe and well. #Phonehome #parentsatwitsend #thinkonplease #familymatters.”

The 48-Hour Challenge is a worrying viral trend circulating on Facebook and based on a similar challenge which swept Europe several years ago.

It encourages children to go missing from home for up to two days, sparking police searches and making their parents frantic with worry.

Extra points are awarded for every social media mention, so appeals to find them from friends and relatives on Facebook and Twitter are welcomed.

In the UK, the “game” initially surfaced among schoolchildren in Northern Ireland before spreading to the south of England and, seemingly, north of the border.

Like it or not, Facebook crazes have become part of our culture. Remember how we shivered through the summer of 2014 as we lined up behind celebrity fundraisers for the ice bucket challenge? Or how about last year’s mannequin challenge, when viral videos of people frozen in action poses swept the internet? But the latest game has an entirely more sinister feel. Youngsters are reportedly nominating fellow Facebook users to vanish for two days at a time, during which they must have no contact with anyone else. The more mentions they get on social media the higher up the charts they rise.

The sick craze is understood to have originated in Europe before spreading to England. And now Scottish police officers fear it is crossing the border.

This newspaper’s pages have already featured the faces of too many missing youngsters.

Thankfully, most return home as soon as tempers have subsided and hunger pangs set in. Others stay away, sparking major missing person searches which place a heavy financial toll on the public purse and an immeasurable emotional burden on loved ones.

Some never come home at all and we can only imagine what their families make of this so-called game.

Some bandwagons are not worth climbing aboard, so let’s hope this latest challenge proves to be an ill-judged flash in the pan.