A post with images showing a supposed police operation against alleged kidnappers at unspecified checkpoints has been circulating online. The photos were given the wrong context.
Published as early as Feb. 12, several Facebook (FB) pages posted this erroneous content that continues to circulate this week. One of the posts bore the caption:
“BREAKING NEWS: MGA NANGUNGUHA NG BATA HULI SA CHECKPOINT! Sa isinagawang checkpoint ng mga pulis, nahuli ang isang puting van sakay ang mga armadong pinaniniwalaang nangunguha ng mga bata! Nakuha rin ang ilang armas, at nasagip ang 7 batang kasama ng mga ito!
(Breaking news: Kidnappers caught at a checkpoint! In a check done by police, a white van carrying armed individuals believed to be abducting children was apprehended! Also confiscated were weapons and seven children were saved from them.)”
In the caption, netizens were asked to check the photos attached to the post to see if they were familiar with the rescued children. But clicking the images only led to an e-commerce site.
A reverse image search revealed that the photos were taken years apart and do not show any kidnapped children at all.
Four of the posts were taken in 2017, 2023 and 2024. All are unrelated to the circulating claim.
Note: Click on the photos to go to their original sources.
Erroneous claims of alleged kidnappings posted on social media for clickbait continue to make the rounds online amid the spread of unverified reports of child abductions all over the country this month.
FB pages This is why we can have nice things (created on Oct. 13, 2022), Maestro TV (Oct. 10, 2019) and Kupal Ako Boss (April 19, 2022) gave false contexts to the photos. Their posts collectively garnered over 180 reactions, 30 comments and 1,200 shares.
