(Updated) A fake Amber Alert claiming that two young girls were kidnapped by a suspect driving a brown Jeep Liberty spread across at least ten states via text message this week, prompting announcements by local authorities that the alert is a hoax and should be ignored. As of this writing, it has surfaced in Texas, New York, Vermont, Arizona, Ohio, Indiana, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Oregon, and Arkansas. Apart from identifying a local community in each state as the scene of the crime (and occasionally specifying the model of the vehicle as a Jeep Cherokee instead of a Liberty), the text has been virtually identical in every case. The following example circulated in Oregon:
Authorities are still at a loss to explain how and why the alert resurfaced as a hoax two days later and rippled across the country via text message.
Read more about it:
• Amber Alert Issued for Townsend Woman and Her Two Daughters - Missoulian, April 12
• Sisters Found, Mother Arrested in Amber Alert Case - Missoulian, April 14
• Amber Alert Cancelled - AP, April 14
• Fake Amber Alert Causes Confusion - NewsWest 9, April 15
• False Amber Alert Triggered by Real One in Montana? - WCAX-TV News, April 16
• Puzzling Amber Alert Sets Police on Trail of Sender - Portland Tribune, April 16
• Text Relates to Montana Alert - Albany Democrat-Herald, April 16
AMBER ALERT! Albany area - 2 little girls kidnapped around noon. Suspect is driving brown jeep liberty. Plate number 43 6519 please send to everyonePolice caught on to the hoax when they compared the license plate number to their databases and came up with no hits. Oddly enough, it did match the Montana plates listed in a real Amber Alert issued the week before. Two young girls were reported missing in the company of their mother, 49-year-old Leslee R. Hebein-Etapa of Townsend, Montana, who was last seen was driving 2002 a brown Jeep Liberty. The alert was canceled on April 12 when Hebein-Etapa was arrested in Wisconsin. The two were found safe and sound back in Montana.
Authorities are still at a loss to explain how and why the alert resurfaced as a hoax two days later and rippled across the country via text message.
Read more about it:
• Amber Alert Issued for Townsend Woman and Her Two Daughters - Missoulian, April 12
• Sisters Found, Mother Arrested in Amber Alert Case - Missoulian, April 14
• Amber Alert Cancelled - AP, April 14
• Fake Amber Alert Causes Confusion - NewsWest 9, April 15
• False Amber Alert Triggered by Real One in Montana? - WCAX-TV News, April 16
• Puzzling Amber Alert Sets Police on Trail of Sender - Portland Tribune, April 16
• Text Relates to Montana Alert - Albany Democrat-Herald, April 16
Comments
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- David Emery
this amber alert also reached across Nebraska
also in kansas
It has hit New Mexico too. I got the text from a Fire Fighter who had NO Idea that this was a hoax.
this hoax also reached Iowa.
I just received it here in Montana today.
It’s in Wyoming as well……
Just came across my phone in Oklahoma…
I got it twice here in Utah (once from a Utahn and once from a Hawaiian)
I think this is kind of messages and/or chain letters should never be taken seriously, unless it has a solid evidence since there might be a chance that the government or police might find the exact copy of the car and plate number and the person driving it might be arrested without even knowing about this.
And this kind of messages and/or chain letters should not be made for this could a very big issue and might even lead to court which you might think is impossible but it isn’t especially when you say names (for example: Venice Johnson killed 5 people) and likewise, there was a true VENICE JOHNSON and she was put to jail without even being informed on what she/he sinned about and this might also lead to huge guilt overtime. Thus, making this kind of messages/chain letters should not be taken seriously
( I live in the Philippines and I am 10 yrs. Old )