Forwarded emails claim gang members are using crying children who pretend to be lost to lure female victims to secluded places to be raped.
Description: Email rumor
Circulating since: March 2005
Status: False (see details below)
Example #1:
Email text contributed by Susan H., Feb. 7, 2011:
FW: Fox News Alert - Please Read!
FROM CNN & FOX NEWS
This is from the County Sheriff Department please read this message very carefully.
This message is for any lady who goes to work, college or school or even driving or walking the streets alone.-
If you find a young person crying on the road showing you their address and is asking you to take them to that address... take that child to the POLICE STATION!! No matter what you do, DON'T go to that address. This is a new way for gang members to rape women. Please forward this message to all ladies & guys so that they can inform their sisters & friends. Please don't feel shy to forward this message. Our 1 message may save a life. Published by CNN & FOX NEWS (Please circulate)..
**Please DO NOT IGNORE!
Example #2:
Email text contributed by Ray W., Sep. 3, 2009:
A NEW KIND OF RAPE ( LADIES BE WARNED )
This is a true story.
The woman left the office after working hours and saw a little child crying on the road. Feeling pity for the child, she went to ask what happened. The child said, 'I am lost. Can you take me home please?' Then the child gave her a slip of paper and tells the woman where the address is. The woman, being an average kind person who didn't suspect anything took the child there. And there when they arrived at the child's home', the kind hearted woman pressed the door bell and she was electrocuted as the bell was wired with high voltage, and fainted.The next day when she woke up, she found herself in an empty house up in the hills, naked. Condoms were all thrown around with semen all over her and flowing from her body. There were at least about 20 condoms! She has not even seen her assailants. That's why nowadays crimes are targeted on kind people like her. Next time if the same situation occurs, never bring the child to the intended place. If the child insists, then bring the child to the police station. Lost children are best to sent to police stations. Please send this to all your female friends/colleagues, and your friends with girlfriends and friends with wives. It is better to receive this a thousand times than be a victim once!
To keep my Identity and job safe I will just say that I am Officer Justice. Keep safe Ladies! Please pass this on to family members. It is better to be informed. It is sad that we can't even help children now!
Example #3:
Email text contributed by Karl H., March 29, 2005:
Subject: New Rape Case Tactic
Hi everyone, I am not sure when did this happen, but it is best to be careful and safety comes first.
She was just discharged from the hospital...
Today after office hours, I heard from my sister-in-law that there is a new way to rape women It happened to one of our good friends The girl left the office after working hours and saw a little child crying on the road Feeling pity for the child, she went and ask what happened The child said, "I am lost. Can you take me home please?" Then the child gave her a slip and tell the girl where the address is. And the girl, being an average kind person, didn't suspect anything and took the child there.
And there when it arrived the "child's home", she pressed the door bell, yet she was shocked as it the bell was wired with high voltage, and fainted. The next day when she woke up, she found herself in an empty house up in the hills, naked.
She has never even get to see the face of the attacker... That's why nowadays crimes are targeted on kind people
Next time if the same situation occurs, never bring the child to the intended place. If the child insist, then bring the child to the police station. Lost child are best to send to police stations.
Please send this to all your female friends.
(my extra note: guys, please tell your mom, your sister, your wife and your girlfriends too!)
Analysis: Despite the fact that recent variants of this message have purported to be "Police Warnings" or "Sheriff's Department Warnings," I've found no published reports of documented cases in which rapists tried to use crying children as bait to lure female victims. Quite to the contrary, law enforcement officials have repeatedly denounced said warnings as "hoaxes."
The earliest version I know of was forwarded to me in 2005 by a reporter in Singapore who had already identified it as an urban legend. Within a month it had made its way to South Africa, and by May 2005 I was receiving copies of it from readers in the United States. As of 2011, six years later, law enforcement agencies were still fielding inquiries about it from El Paso, Texas to Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.
It's still false.
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See also:
If a Baby Cries... Don't Open the Door!
Email rumor claims a serial killer may be using recordings of a crying baby to coax unsuspecting women into inviting him into their homesNew Rapist Trick: The $5 Bill
Email rumor claims a man posing as a good samaritan attempted to gain entry to a woman's vehicle by 'returning' a $5 bill she supposedly dropped. Is this a new trick used by rapists to dupe unsuspecting victims?'National Gang Week' Crime Alert
Forwarded emails purportedly issued by police warn of 'National Gang Week' activities including the use of abandoned baby car seats to trick women into stopping their vehicles and becoming vulnerable to attack.
Sources and further reading:
Bogus Email on Crying Child Crime Alert
Press release, Okaloosa County Sheriff, 25 May 2011Bakri: SMS About Crying Kids Is a Hoax
The Star (Malaysia), 17 May 2011Sheriff's Office Notifies Public About Email Hoax
The Record (Orange County, Texas), 6 May 2011Winnebago County Sheriff Warns of False Email
Rockford Register Star, March 7, 2011Sheriff's Office Warns of Lost Child Hoax
El Paso Times, 19 January 2011Hoax Email
Niagara Regional Police Service
Last updated 07/07/11
