Amber alert 3 yr old girl taken in Waterloo by a man driving a new silver truck plate 72B381 KEEP IT GOIN SO THEY CAN FIND HER!!
Within an hour, someone had commented that it was a hoax.
Today, another friend had this as her facebook status:
AMBER ALERT IN OSHAWA - 3 YEAR OLD GIRL TAKEN BY MAN DRIVING NEWER SILVER TRUCK PLATE # 72B 381 If all of you reading my status would copy and paste this amber alert into your status, it could potentialy save a little girl's life.
Same license plate #, different city.I warned her that it is a hoax, and googled it. I got a link to an article about Urban Legends spread via social networking sites such as facebook and twitter.
The fake alert started last February, with the city listed as Idaho Falls, ID. From there, it has spread over and over and over again, always with a different city, always with the same license plate number.
It makes me wonder who in their right mind would start such a rumour? And how many people, in equally ill taste, have perpetuated the rumour by knowingly changing the city and passing it on?
I know we all want to believe that people are generally good, but once in awhile we get a real winner who screws things up for the rest of us and plays us all for a bunch of fools.
Please, please, please, when you get information from a shifty (aka non-news) source, check the facts before you pass it on.
Thank you! Finally. Nobody believes me when I try to explain to them that these things are hoaxes. It's especially hard to explain when its a hoax about children like the one you're talking about. Some of them will say things like "it's worth the chance". Even with evidence they tend to not listen.
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