Another good source to research such warnings
is www.urbanlegends.about.com. I've seen these
messages before.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Torres" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2001 12:23 PM
Subject: Re: [UTCSTAFF] Warning


>         This is an old scare.  There isn't even one police or newspaper
> story documenting that this ever happened.  It is a 'what if' scenario
that
> has mutated itself so that people think this is really happening!!
>         The internet is filled with rumors, and email gives a new life to
> urban legends.  There are so many scary scenarios that many people who
want
> 'to help' just have to pass along.
>         I think of these emails as paranoia inducing terrorism.  People
live
> in fear of something that didn't even happen!!  One may think this is help
> and it couldn't hurt, but I think that these stories contribute to a
society
> that is increasingly fearful of, and less compassionate to strangers.  The
> impact is that we become less social and more self-serving.  The passing
on
> of these 'warnings,' do have a negative impact.
>         I worry about what if I ever need help someday, and no one will
lift
> a finger because they don't know me.....
>
>         PLEASE, PLEASE, Please, Please check this stuff out before you
send
> it to others.
> You can read more about this hoax at:
> http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/mallgrab.htm
>
>
>
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: James Russell [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> >Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2001 11:39 AM
> >To: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: [UTCSTAFF] Warning
> >
> >
> >This came from a California correspondent. Don't know if we
> >have this sort
> >of thing happening here, but thought best to spread the word
> >just in case.
> >
> >Mike Russell
> >>
> >> The notice below was posted on JCPenney's e-mail this
> >> morning to all Female Associates.  I wanted to pass
> >> the information on to you.
> >>
> >> Recently on Inside Edition there was an article about
> >> several new scams to abduct women. In one, a man comes
> >> up to a woman in a Mall or Shopping Center and asks if
> >> she likes pizza.  When she says she does, he offers
> >> her $10000 to shoot a commercial for Pizza, but they
> >> need to go outside where the lighting is better. When
> >> the woman goes out of the mall she is abducted and
> >> assaulted.
> >>
> >> Another ploy is a very nicely dressed man asks a woman
> >> if she would be in a Public Service announcement to
> >> discourage drug use.  The man explains that they don't
> >> want professional actors or celebrities; they want the
> >> average mother to do this. Once she leaves the mall
> >> she is a victim.
> >>
> >> The third ploy, and the most successful, a very
> >> frantic man comes running in to the mall and asks a
> >> woman to please help him, his baby is not breathing.
> >> She runs out of the mall following him and also
> >> becomes a victim. These have been happening in
> >> well-lit parking areas, in daylight as well as night
> >> time, all over the country. The abductor usually uses
> >> a van to abduct the woman.
> >>
> >> 'Inside Edition' set up a test in a Mall and 10 out of
> >> 15 women went out of the mall on the Pizza and the PSA
> >> scam. And all of them went out of the mall on the baby
> >> scam.  Please pass this along to your friends and
> >> family as now that it has been shown on nation-wide TV
> >> there are bound to be copycats of this. The third one,
> >>
> >> I think, is the scariest.  You might resist pizza or
> >> becoming a commercial celebrity...but who would be
> >> able to resist a frantic father asking for help for
> >> his child? I'm sure that one would get me.
> >>
> >> A woman was shopping at the Tuttle Mall in Columbus.
> >> She came out to her car and saw she had a flat. She
> >> got her jack and spare out of the trunk. A man in a
> >> business suit came up and started to help her.  When
> >> the tire had been replaced, he asked for a ride to his
> >> car on the opposite side of the mall. Feeling
> >> uncomfortable about doing this, she stalled for a
> >> while, but he kept pressing her.  She finally asked
> >> why he was on this side of the mall if his car was on
> >> the other.  He claimed he had been talking to friends.
> >>
> >> Still uncomfortable, she told him that she had just
> >> remembered something she had forgotten to pick up at
> >> the mall and she left him and went back inside the
> >> mall.  She reported the incident to the mall security
> >> and they went out to her car.  The man was nowhere in
> >> sight.  Opening her trunk, she discovered a briefcase
> >> the man had set inside her trunk while helping her
> >> with the tire. Inside were rope and a butcher knife.
> >> And, when she took the tire to be fixed, the mechanic
> >> informed her that there was nothing wrong with her
> >> tire, that it was flat because the air had been let
> >> out of it.
> >>
> >> I was going to send this to the ladies only, but guys,
> >> if you love your mothers, wives, sisters, daughters,
> >> etc., you may want to pass it on to them, as well.
> >>
> >> Send this to any woman you know that may need
> >> to be reminded that the world we live in has a lot of
> >> crazies in it....better safe than sorry.
> >>
> >> PLEASE BE SAFE AND NOT SORRY! JUST A
> >> WARNING TO ALWAYS BE ALERT AND USE
> >> YOUR HEAD!!!
> >>
> >> Pass this along to every woman you have access to.
> >> Never let your guard down.
> >>  >>
> >>
> >