Friday 4 January 2008

Gang Member Hidden in Back Seat Myth

I received this email from a friend of mine today:

This actually happened a few weeks ago right here in Perth. It was early evening and a young lady stopped to get petrol. She filled her tank and walked into the store to pay for her petrol. The cashier told her 'Don't pay for your petrol yet.....walk around the store for a while and act as if you're picking up some other things to buy. A man just got into the back of your car. I've called the police and they're on their way'. When the police arrived, they found the man in the back seat of the girl's car and asked him what he was doing. He replied, he was joining a gang and the initiation to join is to kidnap a woman and bring her back to the gang to be raped by every member of the gang. If the woman was still alive by the time they finish with her then they let her go. According to the police that night, there is a new gang forming here originating from Melbourne. The scary part of this is because the guy didn't have a weapon on him. The police could only charge him with trespassing.... He's back on the street and free to try again. Please be aware of what's going on around you and for your family and friends. LADIES you or one of your family and friends could be the next victim.


A quick Google search revealed the following article on Hoax Slayer. The following paragraphs are from that article.

This actually happened a few weeks ago right here near Fairfield in Brisbane. It was early evening and a young lady stopped to get petrol at a Quix. She filled her tank and walked into the store to pay for her petrol. The cashier told her "Don't pay for your petrol yet.....walk around the store for a while and act as if you're picking up some other things to buy. A man just got into the back of your car. I've called the police and they're on their way".

The dubious "warning" included above is a rehashed variant of an old urban legend that has been passed around since at least the 1960's. The legend of the criminal hiding in the back seat of a motor vehicle ready to attack the helpless female driver predates the Internet by decades. In this instance, someone has created a version of the hoax specifically aimed at Australian recipients. It is very similar to other versions of the hoax that are set in the US, Ireland, Canada and various other locations around the world.

Searches of the Queensland Police Service website reveal no reports of the incidents described in the warning email. I have found no credible news reports about such abduction attempts in Queensland or elsewhere in Australia. If the "gang initiation" method described in the message was really occurring and was a matter of police record, it would have almost certainly been given attention in the mainstream media. Also, if they were true, warnings about such gang activity would be released via official channels rather than distributed via the random forwarding of an email.

Because of this lack of confirmation from any reliable source, the email warning has very little credibility. Also, the fact that similar, and equally unsubstantiated, versions have circulated in different areas of the world for many years indicates that this Australianised variant is as much a work of fiction as its predecessors.

Of course, it is possible that a criminal could hide in a back seat of a vehicle and attack the driver. In fact an article on Snopes.com reveals that the legend may have been derived from a real incident. In 1964, an escaped criminal apparently hid in the back of a car and was subsequently shot by the car's owner, a police officer. However, unlike the subsequent stories, the criminal's motive was apparently just to escape the authorities and his plans were thwarted decisively by the male driver. In spite of this tenuous connection to a real event, there is absolutely no evidence that gang initiation rituals using the modus operandi described in the message are actually occurring.

Like many urban legends, there is some wisdom hidden among the nonsense. It is of course advisable for both male and female drivers to remain vigilant and always lock their vehicles, even if they are only stepping away for a short time.


So, by all means lock your car when you leave it, but please check out your source of information before forwarding it on to your friends.

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