A young woman is bizarrely claiming to be missing British girl Madeleine McCann on Instagram.
In recent months, people have taken to social media in a trend to show off their likeness to the girl who vanished from her holiday apartment without a trace in Portugal’s Algarve in 2007.
Despite extensive searches and countless police investigations, the youngster’s body has never been found, and nor has her abductor.
Sadly, it’s unlikely that Maddie is still alive, according to German police, who have arrested chief suspect, paedophile Christian Brueckner, for her killing.
Now a German woman has gone viral, racking up re-shares and comments, for making the unsubstantiated claim that she “could be Madeleine McCann”.
Despite gaining a lot of attention online, it’s understood that investigators are not taking her claims seriously.
And prosecutors believe Madeleine is dead.
Nicola Bulley police ‘committed major failings and used wrong strategy’, ex-cop says
The woman, whose Instagram handle is @iammadeleinemcann, says she started wondering if she was the missing youngster “a few months ago”.
“It was something that I heard from my grandma,” she added.
The young woman is 21, but believes her age could be wrong. On the rare chance of Maddie having survived, she would now be 19 years old.
Maddie McCann disappeared from her parent’s holiday home in Portugal’s, Algarve in 2007 ( Image: PA)
The unidentified German woman wants a DNA test to see if she’s Maddie ( Image: TikTok/ @shellmc22)
Among the woman’s “evidence” is a freckle on her leg and a speck in her eye in the same places as Madeleine.
The woman is so ready to prove she is Maddie that she’s asking for help to get a DNA test.
Her Instagram bio said: “Help me, I need to talk with Kate and Gerry McCann I think I can be Madeleine. I need DNA test.
She says she has evidence to prove she’s Madeleine ( Image: TikTok/ @shellmc22)
One piece of “evidence” is a freckle on her leg ( Image: TikTok/ @shellmc22)
In 2021, a TikToker also called Maddie shared a clip of herself after family and friends told her she looked like the missing tot.
She shared a passport photo of herself as a youngster, with a similar hairstyle, green eyes and an oval face, stacked up next to a photo of Madeleine she found online.
Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann ( Image: PA)
“Police investigators from UK and Poland try to ignore me. I will tell my story in posts here. Help me.”
Maddie’s disappearance in 2008 kicked off a huge search and a flood of people claiming to have spotted the tot.
Madeleine vanished from her holiday apartment without a trace in Portugal’s Algarve in 2007 ( Image: PA)
These were investigated but revealed nothing.
The flood of information received about the missing girl has been overwhelming and in 2016 it was revealed there were “nearly 9,000” reported ‘sightings of the Leicestershire toddler – who would now be 19 years old – in 101 countries.
More recently, Portuguese police made German paedophile Christian Brueckner an ‘arguido’, or suspect, in the case and are reportedly ready to charge him by the summer.