Warnings that spread online cautioning readers against the latest “gang initiation” attacks are a popular type of alarmist hoax.
If you hear a warning about a new type of gang initiation that’s apparently sweeping your area, then you’re almost certainly looking at some kind of regurgitated hoax. We take a look at some of the most popular hoaxes to spread across the Internet that have been attributed to these ‘gang initiations’, many of which have even fooled the police.
We also discuss how you can easily check to see if a “warning” has any credibility or just a complete waste of time, before you share it to all of your friends!
This persistent hoax has all the tale-tell signs of a classic urban legend and has circulated throughout the years taking on dozens of variants that tell the story in various locations around the world. Like many “gang initiation” warnings this one often takes on the guise of a “police warning”.
The legend – that claims flashing your headlights at a driver in car without its lights on makes you the “target” for that driver – most commonly asserts to have come from an anonymous police officer from the DARE program. Urban legend debunking site Snopes found references to this scare dating back as far as the eighties quoting the Hell’s Angels bike gang as the gang responsible for the alarming trend.
But of course this is nothing more than a story of fiction, rejected by multiple police forces over the years as localised panics often spread because of email and social media carrying the fake story.
Read our full article here.
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When it comes to one hoax being debunked by the most police forces then this one may get top prize. This particular hoax has been specifically repudiated by several police forces in the UK, as well as forces in New Zealand, Canada, Australia and the USA.
The story claims that gangs are leaving baby seats at the side of the road to lure unsuspecting victims into stopping and getting out of their cars where they become vulnerable. There are no credible reports of incidents like this taking place, much less a trending modus operandi, and the fact that this spurious story has been attached to many different locations without evidence confirm that this is nothing more than a classic urban legend.
This hoax also has a popular addendum involving throwing eggs at windshields which is equally as baseless.
Read our full article here.
Replace the baby car seat from the previous example with an actual crying child and that essentially sums up this next hoax that involves crying children luring victims to residential addresses where the victim is then attacked.
Whilst this particular rumour differs from the rest in that is perhaps does provide an ounce of sensible advice (lost crying children should probably be taken to the police station) it is still a complete load of nonsense and another hoax that has found itself being rebutted by police forces across the globe after learning they allegedly released the “warning”.
Variants of this rumour identify various gangs as those responsible and also falsely state that the story has been “confirmed” by reputable news agencies such as Fox.
Read our full article here.
This version is actually a spin-off to one of the most popular urban legends ever, the attacker hidden in the back seat of a car. The story tells of a gang members attempts to hide in the back seat of a car belonging to an unsuspecting female victim whilst stopped at a gas station, only to have his attempts foiled by a sharp eyed gas attendant.
Whilst isolated incidents of attackers hiding in the back seat, or at least attempting to hide in the back seat of cars may have happened, it is certainly nothing to do with gang initiations. And like all of our examples here, versions of this message has spread quoting a number of locations, though never proving to be anything more than sequels to popular campfire tales.
Read our full article here.
Many of the examples above often become popular during the Halloween period, and of course so does the Halloween Killing Spree hoax that states various gangs across the world have given themselves targets regarding the number of people they have to kill or attack. Such warnings alert people to these “night killings” that will occur during the week leading up to All Hallows Eve.
Popular in the USA, these hoaxes have spread over almost every US state and have mentioned the “Bloods” and “Cripps” gangs, as well as various target numbers, most commonly 30-35.
However no such killing sprees ever happen and these are nothing more than regurgitated hoaxes.
Whilst social media can at as an effective medium for passing on genuine warnings it still needs to be done responsibly. It is worth remembering that passing on false warnings lessens the value of passing on genuine warnings. Genuine warnings do circulate social media as well but are not as popular as their hoax counterparts.
So what makes an effective warning message?
1. Location, Location, Location: Warnings rarely effect everyone in the world, especially if they are related to gangs. Legitimate warnings will have a location so you know if it affects you or your friends.
2. Date: Warnings can often become outdated quickly, so legitimate warnings should also have a date attached.
3. Sources: Legitimate warnings, especially those involving gangs, will often come from reputable news media or the police so the most important feature of a real warning will be a link to a trustworthy source confirming the story. This confirms the story and also helps people deciding whether they need to circulate it to their friends or checking if the story has become outdated.
Can you think of any more gang initiation hoaxes out there?
Happy fact-checking out there!
