people have expressed wanting to know how to spot misleading missing-person claims by abusers. examples of red flags to be on the lookout for:
the person issuing the missing-person notice describes the “missing person” as suffering from compromised judgment in some way
the person issuing the missing-person notice says that they’ve reached out to other people in the “missing person”’s life and haven’t been able to get in touch with them, either, or that these other people in the “missing person”’s life have denied them information about the “missing person”
while some abusers know how to present very convincing fronts when addressing the public, others may betray themselves in their appeals (and tones). especially if the “missing person” is supposedly the significant other of the person making the claim, look for the claim-originator’s attempting to tug the audience’s heartstrings with waxing on about how much the two love each other and how tragic their separation is. if the “missing person” is a family member of the originator of the claim, look for their appealing to belief in the sanctity of family
you’re unable to locate any other coverage or documentation of the person’s being missing, especially if any other of these red flags is present
if the originator of the claim provides any of the “missing person”’s social media accounts or if the “missing person” has any social media accounts that come up when you search their name, they’ve been active on any of them since the time when they supposedly “went missing” (they’re not missing: they’re hiding from someone or someones in particular)
the “missing person” is L, G, or B and/or T and the person making the claim isn’t (the “missing person” may have left/cut contact intentionally to escape homophobic/transphobic violence)
similarly, the “missing person” is disabled (the “missing person” may have left/cut contact intentionally to escape [dis]ableist violence)