Facebook users arrested over kidnapping hoax
Two Facebook users from Sibu were arrested over a hoax child kidnapping scare as police seek to take a hard-line approach against social media users who spread fake crime alerts that create public panic.
State CID chief Datuk Dev Kumar said the suspects – a security guard and a driver – were picked up by Sibu CID personnel between Tuesday night and early yesterday morning following a police report lodged over a viral post on Facebook warning the public of a group of child kidnappers prowling in Sibujaya.
“The post alleged that the police had issued the warning, specifically to schools, to be wary of two women who are said to be part of a child kidnapping syndicate.
“The post further added there were three suspects using a heavily-tinted white Proton Wira and that the police were hunting them,” said Dev Kumar in a statement issued yesterday.
The post, he added, was accompanied with a photo of two women and two sketches apparently of the women.
“The alert of the child kidnapping group in Sibu in untrue.
The police have not issued such a warning and there is absolutely no truth in this story. Further checking showed that a similar story and sketches of the women originated from a foreign country,” he stressed.
Dev Kumar said a police report was subsequently lodged against the Facebook account holder for disseminating the fake crime alert that caused unnecessary concern to parents, which then led to the arrest of the 25-yearold account holder at 11.30pm on Tuesday.
A mobile phone was seized from him, with initial investigation revealing that the suspect had copied and pasted the crime alert from another Facebook profile.
“The account holder of that Facebook profile was identified in a matter of time and at 2am today (yesterday), Sibu CID personnel arrested the 25-year-old individual who also said that he had copied and shared the crime alert.”
Dev Kumar added state police are working diligently to address such hoaxes, which are being spread by a small number of social media users.
“We want the community to be assured that crime alerts not issued by the police are more often than not complete hoaxes.
“We understand that hoaxes can spread quickly on social media and we encourage the public to always factcheck things before jumping to conclusions,” he said.
The two Facebook account holders are being investigated for offences under Section 500 of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act.