False social media reports surfaced recently, alleging that foreign nationals are responsible for kidnapping children in various parts of the province. These reports were investigated by police and found to be false.

A story and video has been circulating in Durban. It depicts a vehicle driven by foreign nationals and goes on to claim that the occupants had kidnapped a person. To date no case regarding this has been reported.

No information has come up to verify the incident either. The South African Police Service (SAPS) hopes that locals do not fall trap of the same kind of misfortune.

“We would like to stress that there are a lot of fake stories in this regard and people should not assume that everything on social media is the truth. Often we see the same images or stories re-circulated years after it first surfaced,” said media spokesperson Captain Charmaine Struwig.

If stories doing its rounds on social media platforms relates to police matters, then contact can be made with SAPS via their official Facebook or Twitter accounts, there you can verify the truthfulness of the post, image or video.

Alternatively warnings or abductions for example will be brought to the public’s attention in the media.

Here’s how to spot fake news, according to Captain Struwig:
• Look closely at the contents of the message, often you can pick up inconsistencies in the actual content or topic being discussed.
• Check for dates and days of the week mentioned in the message, often we find inconsistent information there.
• Often references and terms are used which are not used locally or in South Africa, which should indicate to you that the message may have originated in another country
• Remember if a message says the information contained therein is verified or the truth, it does not automatically make it so.

Helpful tips:

• Social media users should teach themselves to carefully consider the contents and origin of a message before passing it on to other people.
• Names and contact numbers mentioned can be easily verified…more often than not the contact numbers provided are fake.
• Do not forward a message on to others unless you know the true origin thereof and have verified the information. This is because there is always the risk that the video clip, image or the information being spread may have been taken out of context and could relate to something completely different.
• If you get any sort of information saying it’s from the police, via social media it is a good idea to call your local police station and confirm first.

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