People are being warned to avoid a Facebook scam that uses an image of a 'missing' young girl to gather their personal information.

According to fact-checking website, Full Fact, the scam takes the form of a Facebook post showing a little girl with text related to the location in which it is being shared, encouraging people to click the link. 

The fact-checkers warn the website is a scam and to not click the link which directs people to a website that attempts to gather their Facebook password and personal information.

READ MORE: Norfolk scam warning over bogus payment text messages

The comments at the bottom of the article, which are designed to look like Facebook profiles, also lead to scam sites rather than Facebook accounts. 

The scam has been recently posted to a Sprowston community Facebook group where it had the caption: "her parents must be terrified right now..".

Child Rescue Alert, a service for sending out alerts about missing children that is run by an arm of the National Crime Agency, has sent out no alerts since January for a missing girl.