Rihanna shocked by uncanny child lookalike on Instagram

‘I thought this was the start of the face app young challenge’

(AFP/Getty Images/Instagram @iambriakay_)

Celebrity lookalikes are uncanny at the best of times, but Rihanna’s might just trump them all.

On Tuesday, the singer posted a photograph on Instagram of a six-year-old girl who looks strikingly similar to her.

Rihanna, who was clearly shocked by the resemblance herself, captioned the image: “Almost drop my phone. How?”

The Fenty designer did not name the child in her post but tagged the youngster’s mother, Bria Kay.

Kay regularly posts photographs of her daughter, Ala’a, who is a children’s clothing model, on Instagram, where she has more than 45,000 followers.

Almost every post has prompted comments from followers tagging Rihanna on Instagram in a bid to get the singer’s attention with regards to how similar she and the child look.

Rihanna’s post has garnered more than six million likes, with thousands of people expressing their shock at the likeness between her and Ala’a.

“I thought this was the start of the face app young challenge,” one person wrote while another labelled her “mini RiRi”.

Ala’a has her own Instagram account under the handle @iamhoneyy_. On Wednesday, the child uploaded a screenshot of Rihanna’s post thanking the singer.

“Thank you @badgalriri for posting my picture !” she wrote. “I’ve always wanted to be a model.”

Ala'a isn't the first celebrity lookalike to make headlines. Last year, a warrant was issued for the arrest of a "lookalike" of Friends actor David Schwimmer.

In December, it was reported that the man in question, Abdulah Husseni, had gone on the run after failing to appear in court to address charges of theft and fraud.

Schwimmer poked fun at the resemblance by posting a video of himself mocking security footage of Husseni on Twitter, writing: "Officers, I swear it wasn't me."