Crying Child Used to Bait Rape Victims-Reported as Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Social media posts warn about gang members using a crying child to lure rape victims.
The Truth:
Warnings about gang members using a crying child to lure rape victims have been circulating since at least 2005, but there haven’t been any confirmed cases of that happening.
Different variations of the warning about crying children used to lure rape victims have been circulated over the years, but they all follow the same basic concept. A crying child supposedly tells a victim that he or she is lost and needs help getting home. The child provides an address. Then, as told in the first version of the rumor that began circulating in a forwarded email 2005, gang members lying in wait attack the woman:
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.
There are different variations of the crying child warning, but they have a few similarities. They don’t provide specific details like dates or city names that can be used to verify claims that crying children are actually being used to lure rape victims. These warnings also usually come from second-hand accounts — someone recounting a tale told them by friend who heard it from someone else.
But in 2011, the crying child rape warning went a step further. This time, someone produced a flier that appeared to have come from the “Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Department” warning residents about the crying child rape hoax that is still in circulation today:
But a closer look at the address on the bottom of the document reveals that it actually came from the City of Miami Gardens Permitting and Licensing’s Department. The crying child rape warning — which is full of spelling and grammatical errors — was likely copy and pasted to the document to make it appear official.
Also, there’s no such thing as the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Department — it’s actually called the Miami-Dade Police Department, and the department called the warning a hoax back in 2011:
The Miami-Dade Police Department has received information that an email is being circulated claiming to be a “Sheriff’s Department Warning” a new way for gang members to rape women. The body of the email states the following:
“This is from the County Sheriff’s 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 (MS13) to rape women. Please forward this message to all ladies & guys so that they can inform their sisters & friends and family. 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! Thank you!”
At this time, the Miami-Dade Police Department has not issued such a release nor have we received any reports to substantiate these claims. If you receive such e-mail, please do not forward. We do, however, urge the public to use caution should they come across a questionable incident that involves the aforementioned scenario. When in doubt, do not stop to render aid, call 9-1-1 and provide the information to the police.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department also released a statement calling warnings about crying children used to lure rape victims “a hoax”.
So, although warnings about crying children being used to lure rape victims have been circulating for years, there’s never been a documented case of that happening. Also, multiple police departments have called the warnings a hoax. Given all that, we’re reporting the crying child rape warning as fiction.