A YouTuber has reunited a missing man with his family after the police spent weeks searching for him.
The authorities have confirmed that the man has now been found after a chance sighting all thanks to the YouTuber.
The content creator, who is based in South Korea, was live streaming himself to his fans while walking down the street when he happened to cross paths with a man who has been missing since last month.
The YouTuber, who is known online as 2ro2, was wandering down the streets of Gwangju in southwest South Korea when he walked up to a man who was wearing a blue jacket.
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During the chat, the missing man claimed to be a 23 year old student and said that his military service had been postponed, despite the fact that he clearly appeared to be middle aged.
That was when one eagle-eyed viewer sent the YouTuber a missing person report that had been issued on November 14.
In the note, it described the man, with his age and location all matching with the man 2ro2 had just met.
The creator realized he had just spoken with the missing man and alerted the police.
While he waited for the authorities to arrive, the YouTuber stayed close to him, playing along with his story about his age so as not to alarm him.
After the police arrived, they were able to confirm the man’s identity and helped to reunite him with his family.
This became major news in South Korea, with the situation sparking a wider conversation about the way digital alerts are helping the authorities to find vulnerable individuals.
A recent government report which was made available to the public back in May revealed that there had been 49,624 missing person reports made in 2024, which included 8,430 people who were experiencing cognitive or mental disabilities.
And this is not the first time that a live streamer was able to help resolve a missing person case as, back in 2024, Cody ‘Clix’ Conrod and FaZe Clan’s Lacy accidentally spoke to a teenage boy in Miami who had been reported missing.
The brother of the missing boy recognized him after he had been missing from Michigan for three months and got in touch with Lacy the following day.
The boy was later found again and was safely helped to return home and to be reunited with his family.