Jul 23, 2009 - 11:21 AM

By Jennifer Stone

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OSHAWA -- Don't believe everything you read on Facebook.

Despite a persistent rumour circulating on the Internet, there is not currently, nor has there been, an Amber Alert in Oshawa seeking a three-year-old girl taken by a man driving a newer silver truck with licence plate number 72B 381.

Nor has it happened in Idaho Falls, Fresno, Yuma, Albany or any of the myriad other cities named in the bogus claim, which has spread across the web for months, turning up with Oshawa as the locale over the last couple of weeks.

"This has been ongoing for a bit," said Sergeant Nancy Van Rooy, of Durham Regional Police, who confirmed the alert is false.

Last weekend, so many people searched for news of the alleged Amber Alert on newsdurhamregion.com that it showed up in a listing of top stories. But, because the claim was untrue, the search only turned up stories from several years ago.

A quick Google search of the licence plate number listed in the bogus claim shows the many incarnations the hoax has gone through. Website urbanlegends.about.com shows the same fake Amber Alert has circulated for ages via Twitter, SMS, Facebook and other sites. The city changes, but all other details of the alert, right down to the licence plate number, remain the same.

"It's a veritable case study in how fast and how far hoaxes can mutate and spread via social media," said David Emery in February on his Urban Legends blog on urbanlegends.about.com. "An unofficial Amber Alert that apparently originated in Salt Lake City (in February) crisscrossed the country over the following two days, convincing well-meaning text messagers and Twitter users from Maryland to California that a seven-year-old girl in their state had been abducted by a man driving a "newer silver truck" with the license plate number 72B381."

Then, in early July, he posted, "The same fake Amber Alert that fooled tens of thousands of people last February is making the Twitter rounds again, with a vengeance. The only essential change is that the text now claims the abducted child is three years old, not seven."

If Durham Regional Police were to instigate an Amber Alert, the matter would go through Ontario Provincial Police, then be disseminated via highway electronic signs and other credible media, Sgt. Van Rooy said. Otherwise, it's likely not believable, she noted.

"Anything on Facebook, I wouldn't take at face value," she said.