Social media trolls are spreading fake pictures of "missing friends" in an apparent bid to attract retweets in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena attack that killed 22 people.

An image of 12-year-old Australian girl was used on Twitter by trolls claiming she was missing:

Same thing happened to this boy, who Twitter user Kylie Manser claimed he was her little brother, Frank.

He was actually a model posing for an article in 2014:

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And to Mexico-based journalist Andrea Noel:

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Another tweet featured a picture of a guy named Abdul, claiming he has chemo and "we're very worried"

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The guy in question lives in Cairo, and made this clear online:

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Another Twitter user has been exposed for posting a photo of a young girl (who was temporarily missing) claiming that he knew her and appealing for help in finding her.

The account, @cook99official, was blasted by a real friend of the girl who said she found his actions "extremely creepy":

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The girl was later found safe, according to her friend @seouIsaints -- but the troll changed username and continued sharing similar tweets about the blast.

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Twitter user @jackdwagner and others started calling him out, despite being repeatedly blocked by the culprit:

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Someone has since reinstated the handle @cook99official to start up a new account, with the bio "I love when people get killed" and linking it to a YouTube account. with over 39,000 subscribers.

In one of the most recent examples, the account @gamergateantifa posted a photo alleging their son was at the arena and was not answering phone calls.

The tweet went viral, with more than 10,000 retweets. However, the photo was of YouTuber and Twitter user @TROTWOfficial, who replied to clarify:

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He also posted a YouTube video stating he was in America and not Manchester:

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TopicsSocial Media