Woman claims attempted abduction at Fox Cities Walmart thwarted by MPD officer; police say it was a hoax

APPLETON -- Police in Appleton are speaking out after a post about an attempted abduction turned out to be fake.

According to the Appleton Police Department, the Facebook post was shared nearly 8,000 times in one day.

A woman claimed she was approached by another woman at a Fox Cities Walmart store in an abduction attempt.

"The message, generally, was people should continue to share the message and let people know of this danger that was out there," Appleton Police Sgt. Dave Lund said.

In the post, the woman claimed an off-duty police officer from Milwaukee prevented the abduction. She said she reported the incident to local police.

Sgt. Lund said there was no such report.

"A lot of people did the right thing and turned to us and asked us if this was a legitimate story," Sgt. Lund said.

Police tracked down the woman who made the post and brought her to the police station for an interview.

"They did admit that they did fabricate the story, that they really underestimated the power of social media," Sgt. Lund said.

Sgt. Lund said the woman didn't technically do anything illegal, so she won't face charges.

However, Lund said it was important in this case to get to the bottom of the story and tell people the truth.

"We don't want to scare people. We don't want to legitimize stories that people have made up. When in doubt, give us a call or send us a message on our social media and we'll try to track that down," Sgt. Lund said.

According to Lund, while it is important to always be aware of your surroundings, adult, stranger abductions are rare.

"A fallacy to think that people are abducting people out of parking lots on any kind of a regular basis," Lund said.