CAMP GOV. ANTONIO U SISON, Lingayen – The Pangasinan police said the reports on alleged ‘abduction’ incidents in the province that have been circulating on social media were not true, describing them as mere ‘rumor’ and ‘hoax’ among others.
“Those rumors spreading in social media are not true, and considered a hoax,” said Police Colonel Jeff Fanged, officer-in-charge of Pangasinan Police Provincial Office.
“This office is continuously conducting cyber patrolling and alerted all chiefs of police in their respective areas of responsibility to take action relative to the said viral post,” added Col. Fanged.
The PPPO OIC issued the statement to disprove the reports on alleged abduction incidents that had been creating some scare among netizens on social media, particularly on Facebook.
Based on the posts of a netizen in their Facebook account, the alleged abduction incident happened at about 5:00 p.m. on Aug. 21, 2022 in Brgy. Magtaking, Labrador.
A similar incident allegedly took place in Brgy. Manat, Binmaley, Pangasinan on the same date in which a van purportedly scouting for possible abduction is roaming around in the province.
Both posts went viral on Facebook.
The investigators found out that both posts were not true.
The Pangasinan police were able to trace and identify the owners of the Facebook accounts that carry the viral posts.
The owners were identified as residents of Labrador and Binmaley. They posted the viral contents on their respective ‘My Stories’ on Facebook.
One of the persons who posted said the viral post averred that she just took a screenshot from the Facebook post of her friend. It is about the alleged abduction incident in Labrador.
Said Facebook posts were already deleted from their respective social media accounts to avoid panic and further prevent from spreading the fake news.
Likewise, they made public apologies on their respective social media accounts.
Col Fanged has appealed to parents and teachers, especially the schools officials, to be extra vigilant and report any unscrupulous or suspicious acts to the nearest police station.