At least two concerned parents had taken to Facebook to express that they feared that their children may be kidnapped, at two different locations, by syndicates from China. The first post by Facebook user Adeline Ng had gone viral with over 4,000 shares and user Anazus Cosnan’s post is trending with about 1,000 shares.
Adeline said that she encountered suspicious characters twice on the same day in the Bugis area.
The first was at about 3pm on 21 Jul, when her mother-in-law was caring for her baby who was sleeping, while Adeline and her husband were having dessert. She claims that a man from China approached her mother-in-law and insisted on touching the baby who was sleeping. Even her mother-in-law’s protest that the baby was sleeping did not deter him. He only walked away when he saw Adeline and her husband approaching.
The second incident was at about 5pm on the same day. Adeline said that she was caring for this baby this time, while her husband and mother-in-law were in the Pokemon Cafe looking at the menu deciding if they should patronise the restaurant. This was when two women from China approached her and asked for the baby’s name and insisted on touching the baby. They however changed the tune and asked where the store selling baby clothes were when her husband saw them and asked them what they wanted. Adeline claimed that there was a baby clothes store just by the escalator which they used to come up to her. When her husband told them that there were many stores in the Bugis area selling baby clothes, they walked away hurriedly.
User Anazus’ incident happened yesterday (26 Jul) at about 9am at Vista Point in Woodlands Drive 16. After taking her unwell daughter to see the doctor, Anazus waited at a bookstore while waiting for the rain to stop. Anazus said that she had heard about child-kidnapping syndicates from China and was very wary. But when she was trying to pay for the items they had picked up at the bookstore, a woman from China approached her daughter and tried to strike up a conversation with her in Mandarin by praising the bag she was holding, Anazus claimed. Anazus said that gauging by the accent of the Mandarin the woman spoke, it was unmistakable that the woman was from mainland China.
When Anazuz approached her however, the woman pretended to browse. This was when the user carried her daughter and asked her to hug her tightly, and further scrutinised the woman. The mother is the young child claimed that the woman grabbed a pencil sharpener and tried to hurry out of the store.
The woman further tried to hide her face when she could not make payment for the stationary ahead of Anazus, and also walked in the opposite direction when she saw the mother of the young child waiting outside the bookstore.
Both parents seemed to be alarmed because of the recent news which has been circulated via Whatsapp that cases of missing children are on the rise (https://theindependent.sg.sg/cases-of-missing-children-on-the-rise-in-singapore).
In Jan 2014, when an alleged child kidnapping attempt at Chinatown, was reported on theAsianparent website, the Police came out to clarify that the incident did not occur. The parenting website had also referred to a WhatsApp chat in circulation at that time, claiming that a Chinese couple had tried to kidnap her toddler.
In a Facebook post, the police said: “Police confirm that the alleged attempted child kidnapping at Chinatown, reported by theAsianparent in their online article, did not occur. The police have contacted theAsianparent to remind them to verify incidents of such nature with the police before publication, and theAsianparent has removed the article. Police would also like to take this opportunity to advise against spreading unsubstantiated information which may generate unnecessary public alarm.”