Social media warnings about kidnappings often false, police say

Posted By: Bayley Bischof 

bbischof@klkntv.com

All over Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages are posts with warnings about attempted kidnappings and suspicious people or vehicles.

They get thousands of shares, hundreds of likes and comments, but too often the warnings aren’t real.

A recent post about a woman who was supposedly drugged in an outlet mall bathroom went viral locally after someone in Lincoln shared it, and tagged the Nebraska Crossing Outlet Mall.

But this isn’t real, it did not happen at that mall or anywhere in Nebraska, a spokesperson for the mall and the Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office said.

The spokesperson released the following statement: "There have been numerous fabricated posts across the country with similar storylines and fake screenshots of conversations of this nature. We want to ensure the Nebraska Crossing Outlet Community that no such incidents have occurred at our property."

Lincoln Police Officer Angela Sands said this is common after traumatic events like the murder of Mollie Tibbetts.

"When you have a high profile case where someone goes missing, or there’s a homicide or someone reports a scary event like a vehicle enticing a child you will see more awareness on social media and in addition to real posts, you will see hoaxes,” Sands said.

While these posts may be increasing, actual suspicious activity in Lincoln isn’t.

Last year, police took 6,300 suspicious person or vehicles reports and of those, less than one percent was real. So far this year, there have been 4,200 reports and again, less than one percent of those have been real, Sands said.

This isn’t to say all of these posts are completely false.

A mother posted on Facebook saying a man chased her son on his way home from school last week, and when she called police they said they had five other reports of similar incidents that day.

Police confirmed that this happened, but also said that was the only report of that day, there weren’t five, like the post said.

"We caution people from sharing posts unless they know the facts themselves, because that’s how we spread fear that’s unnecessary. It’s been well over 30 years since the last kidnapping in Lincoln."

Just because these posts aren’t always real, you should still be vigilant.

Police said if you feel unsafe, trust your gut and do not hesitate to call 911.