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SALT LAKE CITY -- If you've received an Amber Alert text message claiming a 3-year-old boy was kidnapped in the Heber City-Midway area, ignore it. It's a hoax.
The message says:
Amber Alert! 3 yr old boy taken by a man driving an 06 mits eclipse plate S98B351. In Heber city/midway/Utah!! SEND TO EVERYONE!!
The fake alert has been floating around northern Utah since Wednesday night.
Sheriff Todd Bonner, with the Wasatch County Sheriff's Office, said, "We checked with several officers. We checked with dispatch. We have not received any calls in reference to an abducted or possibly abducted child."
However, in a misunderstanding, a Heber radio station broadcasted the alert and caused more concern.
The Wasatch County Sheriff's Office investigated thoroughly. "A lot of resources get put into it," Bonner said. "Hoax or not, you have to take everything serious."
Utah's Attorney General Mark Shurtleff hoped people would still take the system seriously.
He said, "The more people hear about it ... When there's a real one that comes out maybe they'll think it's a hoax, maybe they won't participate because they keep receiving these messages."
Shurtleff said the only way you would receive a valid Amber Alert text was if you signed up through www.wirelessamberalerts.org.
If you did get a legit text message, you would also hear the alert on KSL-TV or KSL NewsRadio.
Most importantly, he said don't forward these messages along.
"I understand it's been happening in a number of states," Shurtleff said. "They use the same license plate from state to state. You'll notice it's not a Utah license plate number."
Bonner said, "It'd be nice to find out who started this whole thing." Chances are, we'll never know.
E-mail: ngonzales@ksl.com
