What was claimed
NSW residents are being warned about two violent offenders who are on the loose.
Our verdict
False. The warning is part of a scam that has been shared on Facebook pages in many parts of the world.
AAP FACTCHECK - Residents of a NSW town have been warned about a dangerous couple attacking people door-to-door at random — the problem is, other towns and districts across the globe are being warned about the same couple.
A Facebook post alerts people in Wellington, in the Central Western Slopes region of NSW, to a supposed pair of criminals.
But it’s a scam that is also trying to snare people in other parts of the world including southern England, Scotland and the Caribbean island nation of Grenada.
After the posts pick up engagement with likes, comments and shares, they are later completely edited to feature a scam.
In many examples seen by AAP FactCheck, the posts appear in community Facebook groups.
The NSW post was made to a Wellington “Trash N Treasure” buy-and-sell page, which has 12,500 members.
The post says: "Warning!! Everyone around Wellington is being urged to stay alert and vigilant this new season. A dangerous couple, Fred Crawford (43) and Mariel Wayne(36), is reportedly going door-to-door claiming to be homeless and seeking help, only to attack those who offer assistance.
“On January 3rd, they brutally attacked a 40-year-old single mother with a knife, leaving her fighting for her life. Following this, they hijacked a vehicle from an 87-year-old woman by pretending to be lost on which was her grandson Matthew Stein(3).
“They are now on the run in her 2015 white Nissan Altima (4-door). This couple is very dangerous. If you see them or their vehicle, do not approach. Immediately call the police.
“Please bump this post and alert others."
The exact warning is given in other locations.
However, the images are not of "Fred Crawford" and "Mariel Wayne".
AAP FactCheck performed a reverse image search and found that the pair are Douglas May Jr and Kristen VanWesten, who were among a trio arrested on drug charges in 2018 in Nebraska, US, according to a report on the Nebraska TV website.
The scam posts made local news in southern England. Police warned residents to be aware of misinformation after the post was shared warning that the couple were supposedly in the town of Swindon.
The article notes similar posts were made to community Facebook pages across the UK, including in Yorkshire and Surrey.
There's a call at the end of the posts to "bump this post and alert others", which is key to the scam.
Once the posts have been shared with a certain number of users, they’re then edited to show real estate advertisements that prompt users to click on suspicious links.
AAP FactCheck has previously exposed similar scam posts in community Facebook pages.
HOW TO SPOT A SCAM POST ON FACEBOOK – THE RED FLAGS
Treat posts that issue warnings about violent offenders or appeal for help to find lost people or pets, or offer extremely cheap or free products and services with caution, if they include more than one of the following features:
- The person encourages everyone to share their post widely.
- They don’t provide their contact details or they ask people to send them a DM or PM (direct message or private message).
- The post includes only very vague details about the people or event that have sparked the warning, or the location of the person or pet, or the giveaway.
- If the account of the person posting is less than a year old, has no profile picture, has very few friends, or isn’t located in the same area as the subject of their post.
- If you can’t comment on the post because the person has disabled comments. This is done to stop people from warning others that it’s a scam.
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