A viral post warned people about mass kidnapping in northwestern Ontario. Police say it never happened

The details in the Facebook post were shocking. 

It said nine women in northwestern Ontario were abducted and taken toward the border between Fort Frances, Ont., and International Falls, Minn., at the border, it added, they cried for help and were rescued by border officers. 

The post went viral and was shared widely on the internet over the last few days. 

But there was one big problem — Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) investigated and found no such kidnapping. 

"We wanted to assure the public that the incident did not occur and that there's no concern for public safety," said Autumn Eadie, an OPP communications officer 

Eadie said the OPP consulted with the U.S. and Canadian border service agencies, and both confirmed the alleged kidnapping didn't happen. There also weren't any kidnappings reported to the Rainy River District OPP detachment.

"We do use other investigative techniques, so that would be conducting interviews, patrolling areas where the offence was claimed to have occurred, reviewing security camera footage," said Eadie.

CBC News has reviewed a screenshot of the original post. The screenshot has since been deleted. The post was an image of block of text, detailing the alleged events. There was no original publication date and the original poster's profile picture is blurred out. 

"My daughter got abducted last night along with eight other women," read the screenshot of the post, which included an offensive term to describe people from India. 

"When they crossed the border and were at the customs, all the abducted women cried for help. That's how they managed to get help from the customs officers and were freed," said the post, which also claimed the abductors were arrested.  

OPP put out a public notice Wednesday saying the viral post was a hoax.

Later, Borderland Pride, a 2SLGBTQIA+ organization, posted a statement to social media that said: "It was obviously malicious gossip that was intended to cause moral panic and outrage targeting members of a minority group. 

"That this message was allowed to spread in our community without question — and was signal-boosted by others so willingly — speaks to the undercurrent of bigotry, prejudice and hatred that we and others continue to push back against on a daily basis."  

Misinformation and disinformation narratives often centre on health or safety concerns, prompting people to reshare them urgently, said Kara Brisson-Boivin, director of research for MediaSmarts, a non-profit organization based in Ottawa that focuses on digital and media literacy programs.