CLEVELAND — Technology provides instant access to information, but not all information on social media or online is true.
Recently, someone posted crime alerts on a couple of social media pages, including one about Lakewood crime. The post claimed that the city has had 26 assaults in seven days, but police said it is not true. “I was surprised to see it,” said Captain William Albrecht, Lakewood Police Department.
“As someone who reads every investigation that comes through our department, I said, 'there’s no way this is true. This is way too much.' So, I went, and I verified, and I found it was completely false, none of those statistics, the numbers they were putting out there, were correct,” he added.
In fact, Albrecht said since the beginning of the year, there have been two assaults.
But it is not just Lakewood. Another post claimed there were eleven burglaries in the past seven days in Columbia and Eaton Townships. The Lorain County Sheriff’s Office also said this information is false.
“What they’re trying to get from you is always going to be personal information or money. So, there’s going to be a link in a lot of those posts because of that. They want you to think you’re going to a website where you can see all of the crime reports, but in fact, it's just a way to get your personal information,” said Katie Hills, Director of Marketing Better Business Bureau Greater Cleveland.
Hills added that scammers use fear as a tactic, so always be skeptical.
