Oh a quick scan of that classic thread, seems just a social media sick joke. For a minute there I thought someone had tried a proper fraud, though thank goodness they didn’t.
Yes, thankfully - I'd remembered it wrongly as being much more official than it actually turned out to be. Still very disconcerting, though.
It’s interesting that in a previous life I have probably made around 100 calls to the police about missing people under 18. They were always told I’d reported them as missing
That's the strange thing, isn't it? For somebody to be in a position where they have a genuine fear that you've gone missing, they must already have a close relationship with you. How would a stranger, or even just an acquaintance, know or care that 'somebody' might have gone missing? Even if they did, they'd raise it with the person's family, wouldn't they? Surely, if a loved one has reported you missing out of genuine concern for your welfare and it turns out that you're found safe and well, you would be pleased, wouldn't you?
At any rate, if somebody has 'claimed' a close enough connection to you that they've reported you missing (i.e., THEY can't get in touch with you, when you would normally be in regular contact), what right do they have (or would they want) to anonymity?