Fake warnings describe attempted child abduction in Legoland

A warning that circulates the Internet claims that an attempted child abduction occurred at a Legoland resort when a child was taken, drugged, had their head shaved and had their clothing changed.

Firstly, it should be noted, as a caveat, that child abductions in general are always a genuine threat, and any parent or guardian of a child should always be alert when out with children and not leave them unsupervised. That includes in holiday or tourist resorts such as Legoland.

However, this specific claim about a child being taken from Legoland, having their head shaved, drugged and clothes swapped is a hoax that has been spreading online since 2013. Since it began spreading in 2013, there have been no reported attempted child abductions in a Legoland resort matching this description. An example of the warning can be read below –

To everyone who have a child, please read!!! This incident happened last sunday, at legoland. My friends friend family went to legoland for a holiday last sunday. While queueing up for food, she took her eyes off her 6 year old son for a moment. In just a few seconds, she realise her son was missing. Quickly she report to the legoland staff and they close down the exits in the area. The whole legoland staff was alerted and a wide search was conducted for a few hours. Finally they found her son. What was horrifying is that her son has been shaved botak, changed his clothes and shoes, and was placed in a stroller being pushed out of the place. The kid was found to be in a drowsy state, believed to be given something to smell to knock him out. Please share to warn all your relatives to be careful when bringing your family out on a holiday!!!! Please spread

Despite it spreading for years, these variants always claim the incident occurred “last Sunday”, which is typical of such warnings that are copied and pasted verbatim between users. Even if the warning was once true – which is wasn’t – it would now be hopelessly out-dated. It’s also worth noting that the warning doesn’t mention the location of the Legoland resort where the incident allegedly took place; there are several resorts across the globe including in Europe, Asia and the USA.

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This particular hoax, despite spreading since 2013, is actually a more modern variant to much older rumours that warn of very similar child abductions, only with the location changed. For example, this warning below uses the Asda supermarket as the location, though also tells a story of a failed abduction where the would-be abductors changed the victims clothes and cut their hair.

Just wanted to tell all my friends in somerset something one of my students mums told me. Earlier on this week a little girl went missing in asda in bridgwater. Asda closed the store so that know one could get in or out. The little girl was found in the toilets with a foreign man and women who were changing her clothes and cutting her hair. The little girl was 4 or 5, I believe, and blond haired. Luckily she was found safe and returned to her parents. Felt that everyone should be aware of it. X

That above variant also proved to be fake and it was subsequently dismissed by Asda, and there are other examples too which are equally nonsense. An almost identical version swapped out Asda and replaced it with Tesco, while another used the shopping mall in Drakes Circus, Plymouth, UK as the location.

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In fact dozens of incarnations of this hoax have spread over the years, and we’ve failed to identify the genuine case that accurately matches the description given in the messages. Of course, as we stated above, child abductions are a genuine threat and it’s not outside the realms of possibility that abductors may attempt to change the appearance of children they take to prevent them from being recognised. But it is a disservice to spread false information such as these hoaxes that will only result in confusion and undue panic concerning a very serious subject.

When spreading such warnings across social media, we recommend sticking to warnings or messages that contain sources from reputable media outlets or warnings authored by the authorities in preference to “copy and paste” messages that have no source.