NILAI: Police have rubbished claims of an attempted kidnapping of a child by baiting the victim with RM100 at a housing estate in Tiara Sendayan here on Aug 8.
This followed the circulation of a video clip on social media purportedly showing a car stopping in the residential area and the driver calling out to the child.
Nilai police chief Superintendent Abdul Malik Hasim said a check found that the car allegedly used by the "kidnapper" in question actually belonged to a resident in the housing estate.
"So far we have not received any reports about this incident. After further checks, we found that the incident was not a kidnapping as alleged in the video.
"On the contrary, the driver of the red car was reprimanding a group of children who were riding bicycles on the road," he said today.
The video that went viral on TikTok claimed that a kidnapper was on the prowl, using RM100 to bait children to get into his car.
In the caption, it was written: "Perhatikan kereta merah, percubaan untuk culik anak jiran, tetapi gagal sebab anak jiran bijak, dia terus lari balik (See the red car, it's an attempted abduction of the neighbour's kid, but it failed because the kid is smart, he immediately ran away)."
Recent checks on the original posting found that the video had been deleted.
Malik advised the public to be more responsible in sharing any footage and not be too excited to get views.
"If there is an authentic case of abduction, report it to the police. If you are not sure, check first before spreading the clip because it can cause concern among the residents," he said.