A false kidnapping rumor that circulated online recently has made the Burleson Police Department watchful of similar nuisances.

In a Facebook post last week, there was a claim that three men in a van had tried to abduct someone’s niece in the Hobby Lobby parking lot. The niece fought off her wouldn’t be abductors with a knife. It’s a great story and might be the makings movie of the week but according to Burleson Police, the incident never happened.

Burleson Deputy Police Chief Doug Sandifer said the claim was investigated and found to be false.

The woman’s post garnered numerous responses and shares.

And, the police department received messages inquiring about the incident. The department then reviewed its paperwork and calls for service, however, the department could not find any such report, Sandifer said.

“We could be doing things elsewhere,” said  Police Deputy Chief Doug Sandifer. “And it creates fear that is unfounded when something in reality didn’t happen.”

The Burleson Police Department shared a “Rumor Control” post on its own Facebook page detailing the inauthenticity of the building speculations. Now, the police department may keep updating similar “Rumor Control” posts when needed.

“We want just put the information out there to people that have read and shared that, that it didn’t happen,” Sandifer said about the police department’s “Rumor Control” post.

Such false reports are draining Burleson police’s resources and time, Sandifer said.

According to the police post, no witnesses have reported the incident yet, however, the police are continuing to investigate the information.

“It’s unfortunate that people see something on Facebook and they believe that it happened and they send it to all their contacts especially those in Burleson to be careful,” Sandifer said.

The original post about the kidnapping has since been removed by the Facebook user. The incident happened in the parking lot of Hobby Lobby, according to the post, which Sandifer said could damage the business’ reputation.

“There was another time last year when we had to put out that something didn’t happen. I don’t remember the exact circumstances of what that was,” Sandifer said. “ But we had a to do rumor control on what they were commenting and sharing on facebook did not happen.”

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