No, this isn’t an authentic warning about a couple wanted in the killing of three police officers

Recent social media scams keep featuring fake news about the purported deaths of three "female police officers." 

We previously fact-checked a false claim that a serial killer named Ryan Edward was on the run after killing three female police officers. 

Now, Facebook posts are warning about "a dangerous Hispanic couple" at large after killing three such officers. 

"URGENT: Alert," a Jan. 27 Facebook post said in a group for people to sell goods in Lake Worth, Florida. "Please lock your doors and stay vigilant. A Dangerous Hispanic Couple Husband serial Killer Roberto Diminguez (49) and the woman Jennifer Samantha Puente (30), a House Burglar are on the run after killing 3 female police officers on Saturday here in #lakeworth. Warn others They go around preying on elderly people, vandalizing parked vehicles, knocking on peoples' doors claiming to be homeless, seeking for help & then attacking you after gaining your trust. They're ruthless and very dangerous. They're also armed so if you see them please do not approach just call the police. LET'S BUMP THIS POST AND HELP WARN OTHERS."

The post included a photo of a man and a photo of a woman.

This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

First, like other scams of this nature, this claim is circulating among Facebook groups around the country with the same warning about the same couple except for one detail: where they purportedly killed the police officers. 

We found posts claiming they had killed officers in sites including Attala County, Mississippi; Chicago; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The police department in Pascagoula, Mississippi, posted Jan. 29 on Facebook that the claims in the post were "false information" after another post claimed the couple had killed three officers there.

One of the post’s photos shows Roberto Dominguez Soto, a man wanted by police in Georgia, but not for the serial killing of three police officers. He’s a suspect in the death of his late girlfriend, Atlanta’s WAGA-TV reported Jan. 13. 

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The woman in the post’s other photo, is Jennifer Puente, who in July 2024 was sentenced to 40 years in prison for murdering a 15-year-old in Ellis County, Texas, in 2012, Dallas’ KDFW-TV reported. Her boyfriend, Joe Alvarado, was also sentenced in connection with the crime.

The Better Business Bureau has warned about these kinds of bait-and-switch scams. 

They work like this: Someone is scrolling through Facebook and sees a post about, for example, wanted serial killers. The person shares the post. But after the person shares the post, the scammer changes the post to something such as a deceptive rental ad. 

"These bait-and-switch ads aim to either get a deposit for a rental property before the user gets a chance to see the home — or get your personal information, which could lead to identity theft," the Better Business Bureau said in a November 2024 article on its website. "This scheme has many variations, but the commonality is the emotionality or urgency of the message that encourages concerned people to share the news with their friends." 

We rate claims these posts show a couple wanted in connection with the killing of three police officers False.