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On 15 March 2016, a Facebook user published the above anecdote about a Target in Houston, warning fellow users about the dangers of potential kidnappers (or human traffickers) haunting local retail establishments. According to the post's author, she was in a checkout lane with her toddler daughter and infant son, when two women flanked her (standing way too close) at the register. After the older of the two women began initiating conversation about her children, the poster wrote that she became incredibly uncomfortable and she felt that something wasn't right about this situation. The poster said she reacted to her discomfort by making a big deal of using her shopping cart to barricade the women away from her children, then described the banter taking a sinister turn: Readers were presumably supposed to infer here that the two women in the story were kidnappers or traffickers scouting the family. The remark attributed to the younger woman neatly proved their purported intent, despite the likelihood that criminals of that nature aimed to operate without attracting attention or raising suspicions. But the writer was convinced, possibly before even setting eyes on the women: All that readers knew about the situation was supplied by the poster. All the frightening were assumptions on the part of the poster, and the claim sounded very much like a number of others that circulated on social media warning distracted lone female shoppers of a purportedly growing problem involving kidnappings at large chain stores. Despite a spike in such tales in 2015 and 2016 on Facebook, we have yet to track down one instance involving an abduction of the sort repeatedly described in warnings. In May 2015, a Facebook user's harrowing account of an Oklahoma Hobby Lobby near miss circulated widely; in June, Twitter users panicked over stories of sex slavery rings targeting college kids during summer job interviews; later that same month, an old theme park abduction urban legend resurfaced; a terrifying tale of purported teenaged abductors armed with heroin in the bathroom of a Denton, Texas, Dillards department store spread far and wide; a Hickory, North Carolina woman was convinced human trafficking rings were menacing Walmart parking lots, using gift bags as bait; a Long Island Target was briefly cited as the locale of similar kidnappers in August 2015; and the rumor moved to a Target in Longview, Texas in February 2016. Exposure to even one of those claims would be enough to make many shoppers wary, and the poster appeared to be working under the expectation that it was just a matter of time until her children were spotted and snatched while she was distracted by shopping alone. As is generally the case, the events described were inconsistent with known basic facts about kidnapping or sex trafficking. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's FAQ about human trafficking explains the risks and profiles of victims of those crimes. (Abductors of children from public places don't generally risk calling attention to themselves by directly interacting with their potential victims in an overtly suspicious and hostile manner.) We contacted the Target in question and as expected, a manager was unable to answer questions other than to confirm that Target's corporate office was aware of the claim and state that the story was completely overblown. In addition, we attempted to contact the poster of the item via Facebook to obtain information about her claim but received no response as of this writing. We also contacted police in Houston to find out whether there was any basis to the rumor, and an Investigative First Responder in the area of Houston where this Target is located told us:
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