For five days, dozens of police officers in France were searching for a missing infant who ... never existed - in fact, he was only a profile in his virtual world Facebook.
The unprecedented time-honored case took place in the region of Aye, in the Auvergne, central France.
Last Saturday, local police began searching for a two-year-old infant named Seasonin Bazinio after a complaint received from a "relative" that the child had mysteriously disappeared in a supermarket's car park.
The local prosecutor ordered an urgent abduction investigation: police began combing the area, and even police divers were called in to search a nearby lake, fearing that the child she could have drowned.
As the days passed without any trace of the boy, the police decided to inform the parents that they could not find their child.
Which makes perfect sense, since Sezon Bazinho never existed – and neither did his parents. These persons existed only as profiles on Facebook, which had been created by an unknown, for the time being, face.
Photo from the two-year fake account on Facebook
In addition to the bill created in the name of the fantastic two-year-old, the police found on Facebook photos of 20 his "father", named Rajan Bazinio, a person also fantastic.
"Research has been long and complicated, but we can now say with certainty that the child does not exist, as does his father and mother," said Prosecutor Erik Mazo.
"The search for kidnapping has obviously been turned into research to report an imaginary crime or offense," he said.
The "disappearance" of the boy was reported last Saturday by a woman presented as his aunt. She told police she last saw the child last week near a supermarket and believed he had been abducted. He added that his parents had divorced and he did not know where they were.
The police began to suspect that something was wrong after they found inconsistencies in the "aunt's" statement. The woman is in custody and is facing a prison sentence of up to six months and a fine of EUR 7.500.
Police said they are still investigating the "aunt "'s teenage daughter and one of her cousins - both minors - who are believed to have created the fake Facebook account several months ago, posting photos stolen from other accounts.
