Africa Check
18 April 2016
Researched by Kate Wilkinson
South Africans need to be on high alert about two new
crime trends – according to an “urgent message” shared on Facebook.
It warns: “If you find a child crying on the road
showing his/her address and asking you to take him/her to that address,
immediately take that child to the police station and please DO NOT take the
child to the address.
“This is a new way to gang rape women and girls, rob
and kill men and boys.” […]
Africa Check had no luck calling the numbers listed on
the warning. The first number was permanently engaged and the second no longer
exists. We also could not find the landline number listed on the police
services website.
And when we tried to track down the “Lt Col. MJ
Krugel” that supposedly issued the warning, we discovered that people had been
trying to verify the authenticity of this message as early as 2011. […]