Beware of False Amber Alerts!

Poster's Note: Lately there has been a nationwide scourge of Amber Alert Hoaxes. They have plagued Law Enforcement and the media from east to west, north to south. They usually arrive by IM or Tweet. If you receive one, don't make the situation worse by forwarding it to "everybody on your list" until you verify that it is factual. A quick news engine search for Amber Alert and the town usually will bring up the hoax story or the real thing.

Several residents received a text message Tuesday night about a
3-year-old being abducted in Charlotte County. It turns out, it was
actually just a hoax.
The message said, "Fwd: Amer Alert Three-year-old boy taken by a man
off Docheter (Dorchester) in Port Charlotte driving a 2006 Mitsubishi
Eclipse, plate #98B351. Send 2 every 1 u know."
The text message quickly spread throughout Charlotte County alerting
residents that a three year old boy had been abducted from Dorchester
Avenue in Port Charlotte. The suspect was allegedly driving a Mitsubishi Eclipse.
"I was looking for it. It was, they say, a green Mitsubishi, so
naturally everybody around here was looking for it," said Dorchester
Road resident James Hagan.
It turns out it was actually a hoax started by a single text message
that spread like wild fire. "Nobody had reported a child missing, but that doesn't mean that
there isn't one. So we have to look at this as very serious," said Bob
Carpenter of the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office.
The sheriff's office launched a search of area.
"We saw the police helicopter fly over, then it was down the street,
the next block down, then it was flying circles over and over again,"
said Dorchester Road resident James Hoffman.
Surrounding law enforcement agencies were notified, but a few hours
later, the sheriff's office realized it was all a prank.
Residents on Dorchester Road say these types of pranks are extremely
upsetting, especially for those who have children.
They worry if a real AMBER Alert is issued, residents won't take it seriously.
"It tends to downgrade the purpose of an AMBER Alert, saving a
child's life. And if they think this is funny they're dead wrong," said Carpenter.
"It's preposterous. I think there should be some sort of legal action
taken against these people, it's a waste of county resources," said
Dorchester Road resident Robert Hoffman.
The sheriff's office says real AMBER Alerts are issued by local law
enforcement agencies directly to the media, who then notify the pubic.

Boston Police were bombarded with calls when someone sent out a fake
Amber Alert text on Tuesday afternoon. In just a few hours, the
message reached 13,000 people just through Twitter alone. The
false alert said a three-year-old had been taken from Dorchester. The
source of the message is unknown, but by the time Boston Police sent
out a message that the Amber Alert was false, word had already spread. “The
immediate thing is that everyone wants to do something good. Social
media has that opportunity to be able to connect a lot of people,” said
Nathan Spencer, one of many who passed the message along. State
Police say they have a procedure when they issue Amber Alerts. “Through
the traditional media outlets. Television, radio, and the message
boards that you see on the highway,” said Sgt. Michael Popovics of the
Massachusetts State Police. Police say to check those sources
before using social media to pass along messages regarding Amber Alerts.

PORT CHARLOTTE - Authorities say a text message sent to people
throughout Charlotte County warning of a child abduction Tuesday night
was a hoax.
The message said the abduction had triggered an Amber Alert, the nationwide system
of alerting police agencies about a missing or abducted child.However,
sheriff's officials released a statement late Tuesday saying they had
checked and the alert was a hoax. Officials said they hope people will
continue to respond to the Amber Alert system and not let this hoax
diminish the value of the alerts.Anyone with information on the
incident can call the Sheriff's Office at (941) 833-1870.
The Sheriff's Office said numerous people called the agency Tuesday
night saying they had received a detailed text message about a
3-year-old boy who reportedly had been snatched by a man in a 2006
Mitsubishi Eclipse. It even gave the car's tag number.

A hoax circulating on Facebook claims a 3-year-old girl has been
abducted by a man driving a grey car, license plate Q72B381, in
Edmonton, KY. It's false. No such Amber Alert exists. The current
message is a variant of a false
alert circulating since February 2009.

Amber Alerts can be verified by viewing the Active
Amber Alerts page of the National Center for Missing and Exploited
Children. If it doesn't appear there, it isn't real.

Example of the current message:

AMBER ALERT!!! Edmonton, KY little girl 3 years old, picked up by a man
driving a grey car, licenseplate: Q72B381. Put this as your status. It
could save her. This kidnapping is recent so do it. 3 seconds will not
kill you. If it were your child, what would you do?????

Previous variant (as of April 15, 2010):

AMBER ALERT!!!!!!!! In Edmonton, Ky - A little girl, 3 years old was
picked up by a man driving a grey car, license was plated Quebec 72B
381. Copy and paste this as your status. it could save that little girl.
This kidnapping is recent! so do it, 3 seconds will not kill you spread
the word!

Iowa's Amber Alert website was hacked into Saturday, and a false e-mail alert was released.

A criminal investigation has been launched, state officials said Monday.

The bogus child abduction alert was sent Saturday, followed by a second message rescinding the bulletin, said Courtney Greene, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

"We did not send an Amber Alert," Greene said. "Neither of those messages came from DPS."

Public safety officials said Monday that the server, which also hosts the Iowa State Patrol's crash report site, is temporarily out of service. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating.

Greene said she is unsure if the breach cost the state any money in investigative or other costs.

"It's very early, and we're just going to wait and see what the investigation finds," Greene said.In the event of a real Amber Alert, the department would be able to communicate information through the media, National Weather Service, the Emergency Alert System and Iowa Broadcasters Association, Greene said.

"We definitely have backups," Greene said, adding that the department is unsure what had been compromised by the breach.

Authorities say a breach of a computer server that hosts Iowa's AMBER alert system is the third time that hackers have broken into a state government website this year.The Des Moines Register says like the others, the latest breach has been traced to a foreign Internet address. Robert Bailey of the Department of Administration Services says it's difficult to confirm the link because digital criminals cleverly hide their tracks.The latest incident happened Saturday morning when a hacker breached a server used by the Iowa Department of Public Safety and reissued an Amber Alert warning from February. The alert was canceled within minutes.The server, which also hosts the Iowa State Patrol's crash report website, is temporarily out of service until security problems are resolved.