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.
>>  >>
>>
>