kidnap attempt in shop - is it true?

[jenhden]

in the past two months i have heard three almost identical stories of an attempted kidnap and am wondering if it is an urban myth or if there is a spate that i would have expected to hear on the news by now.

whati've heard is that whilst paying a cashier in a shop a mother turns to realise her young daughter who had been attached by a wrist strap rein has gone, with the strap cut.

The cashier presses a panic button which locks all the doors and the girl is found in the toilets with someone who has cut her hair off and dressed her in boys clothes in order to get her out of the shop unnoticed.

one was a mothercare in hull, one an asda in leeds and the other a supermarket in birmingham.

Has this happened?

I had one of those emails warning of a particular credit card scam forwarded (via primary school) from West Sussex Police. It looked familiar and a quick google search showed it has been doing the rounds in the US and Europe for at least 5 years. As well as the scaremongering and (often) ill disguised racism these emails can pick up all sorts of viruses along the way. They often claim to come from the police but this one actually did!

Oh God serenity. Don't please. I'm having flashbacks. She said I was ruining it for others. They followed me you see as I made a shortcut to look at bright stuffed hippos in primary colours. Even a plate of meatballs couldn't dull the pain of being so dressed down in public. Never again.

BTW, I finally posted my magic stick to you today! DH nicked it for work and was rather long with it. Tis empty now. See how much you can get on it. Tis 8giggywhatsits, whatever that means.

reading that back 'the autistic boy who stole a penguin'

Absolute muppet.

lol at hair cutting a toddler unnoticed

waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

You go to the wrong IKEA, we'd never tell someone off for going the wrong way. Might mention them in passing whilst someone is ranting and spitting telling me they can't find the checkouts.

And I should be able to get them all on there, oh you lucky girl

'them' being the huge arrows on the floor, and the gianormous blue exit signs...

Indeed Dan Druff.. I've never heard of a toddler getting hair cut and not sounding like they were being murdered. That's if you can hold one still for long enough to even get a single snip.

yes moved from mum and hair cut

yeah righty

Oh God really? All of them? Oh I shan't leave the sofa for days. And I might just love you. Well a little more than I already do.

I've been to Ikea once incidentally. I was dragged there by MIL on the way home from Hastings. I have a vague notion I was in Wembley perchance. You know me, little knowledge of life outside of the farm.

But surely it is a skill to find the quickest way through IKEA without following the arrows. A member of staff actually told me an amazing short cut last time I was there....I probably walked three miles less as a result. I was feeling quite jammy, until a woman pointed out I was wearing my cardigan inside out. {blush] I just pretended like I meant to, I was totally aware, and it was a completely normal thing to do. teh time I lost DD in IKEA, the staff were really lovely, and found her quite quickly...she hadn't got far, so absolutely no lock down.

I am aware this thread was started in 2009, but it could be useful to others who look up this story; it IS an urban myth.

My mum told me this story when I was in Primary School (age 6-10). I'm now 27 years of age.

Her version of the story that it was Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent or Lakeside Shopping Centre in Essex (I can't remember which, but we live close enough to visit both) - and that the kidnappers got away with the child, nothing about the woman being at the checkout or straps "cut".

This clearly is an urban myth, despite others before me saying it was; think about it, if this was told to any of you in 2009 and it supposedly happened 20 odd years ago and has happened again without the most recent incident being in the news; then that's more than likely it's a urban myth.

Not only that, but I now realise the story my mum told; how could the story (of shaving the child's head or dying the child's hair colour, putting the child in opposite gender clothes) be told and the kidnappers "got away". How would any one know those details of what actually happened and got away with the child without telling someone how they did it?

This has been one of my mums fears that someone would take me or my sister while we were out. And of course, it frightens me even now (I have two young girls now; thank goodness for buggie-boards!?)

A few years ago I visited Bluewater for a job interview and I noticed at the bus stops "Missing People" posters; not sure if they ALL went missing FROM Bluewater Shopping Centre or the general area, but a lot of them appeared to be children and at least ONE of them was last seen at Bluewater Shopping Centre, no details of how the child went missing (I.e kidnappers, toilets, change of clothes) - I can't remember if this particular it was a girl or a boy, or how old. I think one of the missing posters was of a 12 year old blonde girl.

A massive zombie, but I looked up this thread due to the story of the ''abducted child in the shopping mall'' {2024}

The apple pip- yes, that's a good one, plus:

If you swallow chewing gum, it gets tangled around your heart, and you die''
^^

I stepped on a crack in the pavement once.

My mother was NOT happy.

Due to not following the arrows correctly I'm still in the same IKEA store.... (the former serenity - this thread was a few name changes ago!)

And as this was a few years ago - we still don't have a central door lock button, we have keys still in 2024 for the main doors but we have very well practised routines for lost children, and security with radios manning exits. My advice if you lose a child in a big shop, report it ASAP and then trust the process - we do this multiple times a week (a day during busy times!), you help us by staying calm, staying in one place and letting us concentrate on finding them.