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An e-mailed alert about a rape scam began appearing in inboxes in May 2005: In common with so many Internet-circulated warnings of the past few years (e.g., foiled abduction in Saginaw, gang initiation in Memphis, foiled abduction in Cedar Falls, robbery in Garland), it adds to the perception that women are being hunted en masse in the parking lots of shopping centers and mega-retailers. The incident described in the seemingly helpful heads-up never happened, says Terry Mee, division commander of the Wheaton Police Department: there was no foiled abduction, no little old lady luring an unwary woman into a trap, no gun-wielding large man in a stocking cap, no police officer who fortuitously saw the whole thing and was able to race over and arrest the perpetrators. According to Commander Mee, the alarming e-mail was fabricated by a person who was reportedly suffering from some emotional and/or psychological problems and passed [it] on to another who took it upon herself to shotgun (i.e., to widely disseminate by e-mail) the initial message — believing it to be true.
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