People in Northwest Arkansas are fooled by a fake Amber Alert text message.
The alert went out as a text message Tuesday evening, and was forwarded to several phones. It stated that a three-year-old girl from Howe Oklahoma was taken by a man. It went on to describe the vehicle and the license plate.
It later turned out that the message was a fake. People can sign up to receive free Amber Alerts via text message by logging onto www.wirelessamberalert.org. Often those amber alerts are then forwarded onto people who don't have the service. It's at that point that it's impossible to know whether the message is the real thing or just a fake.
The Washington County Sheriff's Department says the only way to be sure is to check the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, where all the Amber Alert cases are listed.
Even if a child may really be in danger, people cannot launch their own Amber Alert. "Every Amber Alert issued in the state of Arkansas has to be issued by the Arkansas State police," said Detective Gary Conner.
People caught creating a false Amber Alerts face fines and possible prison time.
The alert went out as a text message Tuesday evening, and was forwarded to several phones. It stated that a three-year-old girl from Howe Oklahoma was taken by a man. It went on to describe the vehicle and the license plate.
It later turned out that the message was a fake. People can sign up to receive free Amber Alerts via text message by logging onto www.wirelessamberalert.org. Often those amber alerts are then forwarded onto people who don't have the service. It's at that point that it's impossible to know whether the message is the real thing or just a fake.
The Washington County Sheriff's Department says the only way to be sure is to check the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, where all the Amber Alert cases are listed.
Even if a child may really be in danger, people cannot launch their own Amber Alert. "Every Amber Alert issued in the state of Arkansas has to be issued by the Arkansas State police," said Detective Gary Conner.
People caught creating a false Amber Alerts face fines and possible prison time.
