The Philippine National Police (PNP) has ordered a thorough investigation into what it described as a surge of viral crime-related posts that have been going viral on the social media in the past days.

PNP chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin, Jr. said he had already directed the police's Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) to look into the veracity of the trending videos that include alleged kidnapping incidents targeting women and female children and other crime-related posts.

And based on the initial investigation, Azurin said some of the videos were either recycled or fake posts, the recent was the alleged attempted kidnapping involving a girl in Caloocan City.

ACG director Police Brig. Gen. Joel Doria said that as more and more videos have been circulating online about attempted rape, attempted abduction, and alleged missing persons, most of them when validated reveal that the posts happened years ago and were already solved by the PNP.

“The videos are being recycled while others are edited pictures that are posted to probably gain followers or to depict a picture of an unstable government. We have ordered already our men to step up to the challenge to ensure that malicious/fake videos that are not real are taken down in order not to mislead people into believing it," Doria said.

In the case of the alleged attempted kidnap attempt in Caloocan City, Metro Manila police chief Brig. Gen. Jonnel Estomo said the incident was found to have been made up by the alleged victim.

"The mother of the child already apologized for the mess and the 'kidnapping' scare her daughter brought to the public. She also appealed to the general public especially to the netizens to discern the news they read and watch in social media," said Estomo.

Estomo then appealed to netizens to be careful and vigilant especially in sharing unverified information.

"We enjoin everyone to be extra vigilant in appreciating news and reports seen and read in various social media platforms to prevent undue and unnecessary anxiety and fear from spreading in our communities," said Estomo.

"Best of all shun to jeer at the privilege and be more responsible in using social media more so if it concerns public safety or national security and to think before clicking or face the harsh consequence of breaching the law," he added.

Azurin, for his part, said that they are not discouraging netizens to report criminal incidents using social media.

He said that he had already given instruction to the ACG to intensify the monitoring of criminal incidents being posted in various social media platforms.

"But we are appealing to the public to be more cautious in sharing videos and photos of alleged incidents, especially if the source is not from a legitimate news outlet or government agency. If they have personal information or knowledge about a certain incident, it’s better that they report it directly to the nearest police station or call the PNP’s hotline numbers so the PNP can immediately respond to the incident," said Azurin.