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No, Miami-Dade authorities are not warning of a "new technique" for MS-13 to rape women

2023-01-25T21:09:02.303Z


This hoax, which says that the Salvadoran gang is using children as bait, has been circulating on the internet since 2005 and is now on WhatsApp, where false news can be shared thousands of times. So you can detect them and not fall for them.


An old fake news that has circulated since 2005 has resurfaced on social networks, this time on WhatsApp.

It is an image that pretends to be a statement from the supposed "Miami-Dade County Sheriff's Department" warning of a new modality used by the MS-13 gang to rape women.

According to the image, "if you find a child crying on the street and you show him his address and ask him to take you to that address... take that child to the POLICE STATION!!".

Image of a fake message from an alleged "Miami-Dade Sheriff's Department" warning of a type of rape by the MS-13 gang that authorities have denied.

The message that seeks to generate panic has traveled the internet for almost 20 years.

Via WhatsApp

But the message is false,

and in 2019 the Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) itself denied it in a message on the social network Twitter.

"This scam has come to our attention and has been making the rounds on social media again. This is NOT an official statement from MDPD or Miami-Dade County. We do not have any intelligence to support what is contained. Whenever you suspect something, please call 911 or 305-4-POLICE for non-emergencies."

The false message is a hoax that went viral nationwide four years ago, adapted to different locations, exchanging the header for different departments or local sheriff's offices, according to The Miami Herald newspaper.

In fact, Miami-Dade County doesn't even have a Sheriff's office, but rather a Police Department.

(Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava is currently playing Sheriff.)

But the content of the fake message has been circulating for at least 20 years, taking different forms.

A fake news that does not die

The website that debunks hoaxes and false news, Snopes.com, tracked down the message in 2005, when it circulated in text messages on cell phones or by email, or even posted on paper in public places.

Message written on paper with a text almost identical to that of the recent hoax on social networks.

Courtesy Snopes.com

"All of the incarnations we've found of this warning have been grand feats of avoiding the specific: none indicates when or where such an attack supposedly took place, or even who was issuing the warning," Snopes says.

The hoax was not talking about the MS-13 gang of Salvadoran origin, but about "gang members" in general.

There was no trace of such incidents in the news then, according to Snopes, of gangs using children as bait to entrap women.

This also goes against how rape happens, who the perpetrators tend to be, and how they choose their victims.

The vast majority, 93%, of rapists are people the victim knows, a partner, ex-partner or family member, according to statistics collected by RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network), the largest organization against sexual violence in the country.

55% of rapes occur at the victim's residence.

And most of these crimes are carried out individually, not in groups, according to RAINN.

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This kind of urban myth, in which a person, usually a young woman, falls prey to a morbid crime while trying to help someone more vulnerable, like a child, runs from at least World War II in Berlin, Snopes explains. .

How to identify hoaxes and fake news?

This image contains several warning signs that it is false that you can learn to identify and thus detect other false news and hoaxes that run through social networks.

Some signs are:

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  • The original source is missing:

    in this case, it is a photo taken from a computer that shows the alleged statement.

    That is a first warning sign, since it is not a link to the original statement on the website of this law enforcement agency.

    Always check to see if there is a reliable source behind the story.

    Ask whoever sent it to where they got the information from.

  • Bad grammar and spelling:

    The fake statement is supposed to come from an official source like a law enforcement agency, but uses all-caps words, exclamation points (sometimes multiple) as in "

    POLICE STATION!!"

    or "family and friends !!"

    , mixes numbers and letters, and uses spaces before punctuation, to name a few mistakes.

  • Use language that is too informal:

    In this case, the message says in one example,

    "forward this message to all ladies & guys",

    which would be the equivalent of a police department using the word "guys" in an official statement.

  • Appeal to strong emotions such as fear using sensationalism –

    be aware of your emotions.

    If what you're reading sounds too outrageous to be true, it probably is.

    A large number of conspiracy theories use fabricated stories of child abuse or sexual crimes, as these tend to have the strongest emotional effect on the reader.

  • Google it:

    Do a quick internet search (type in keywords or copy the headline or a whole sentence of the message) so you can see if reputable news outlets have reported or denied it.

  • Wait before forwarding:

    Take a break.

    Think with a cool head so that strong emotions are not involved that make you act more impulsively.

    If you notice one or more of these signs, please do not forward or share.

    Advise the person who sent it to you that the information is questionable.

The News Literacy website contains these and more tools to apply daily to detect false news, hoaxes and conspiracy theories and verify the information you consume.

If you want to receive our articles from T Verifica or send us topics about which you have doubts so that we can verify them, contact us via WhatsApp 

by clicking on this link

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Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2023-01-25

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