This photo of 12-year-old Gemma Devine circulated as a missing person. Photo / Instagram
This photo of 12-year-old Gemma Devine circulated as a missing person. Photo / Instagram
A mother woke to hundreds of messages of concern after her daughter's photo was plastered all over Twitter as a potential victim of the Manchester terror attack.
The only problem? Rachel Devine's daughter Gemma was in Melbourne.
The 12-year-old was safe in Australia, but someone had mistakenly used Gemma's photo on Twitter, claiming the girl was lost in the panic scenes following the deadly blast at an Ariana Grande concert.
Rachel, a blogger and photographer, has now used social media to correct the misinformation among the hundreds of desperate appeals for lost children caught in the mayhem.
My Daughter is in the black hat / Red lipstick. She is safe in Australia. Someone stole her photo.
According to Gemma's mother, someone used a photo of Gemma on a fake Twitter profile claiming she was a friend of the 12-year-old.
"I had many messages online asking me if Gemma was okay with screenshots [of her photo online]," Devine told Kidspot.
"I have been calming fears all over the internet since that Gem was safe and nowhere near the event. I just thought, why? What purpose does that serve?
"As for the person who used it this way, I just don't understand. I can only imagine that it had nothing to do with my daughter specifically and more that the image was easily found and used to get attention for the poster?"
Devine believes the image of her daughter may have come from the 12-year-old's Instagram account.
This photo of 12-year-old Gemma Devine circulated as a missing person. Photo / Instagram
Although Devine is relieved her daughter is safe, she feels heartbroken for parents who sent their children "to a beautiful concert" only to have them taken by terrorists.
Devine and Gemma weren't the only notable fake news circling following the attacks.
The Daily Express and Daily Star ran articles claiming a gunman had been spotted outside the Royal Oldham Hospital, on the edge of Greater Manchester.
The was not a gunman outside Oldham Hospital, despite reports by the Daily Express. Photo / Daily Express / Twitter
The stories appeared to be sourced to a viral Facebook post claiming a man was outside the hospital with a gun.
The initial fear of a gunman came from this Facebook post that went viral. Photo / Facebook
There were also multiple reports that the Holiday Inn hotel had 50 unaccompanied children on its premises.
Many of the messages, apparently shared in good faith, urged concerned relatives to phone Holiday Inn directly if they could not get in touch with their child after the terrorist attack.
The Holiday Inn said it did not have 50 unaccompanied children despite Twitter reports. Photo / Twitter
This was later found to be incorrect.
A number of news outlets also reported that Glasgow Central Mosque was graffitied after the Manchester terror attack.
Vile ISIS graffiti daubed on Glasgow Central Mosque after terror atrocity in Manchester https://t.co/KM1h54bm0t
