Effort underway to find person who sent fake Amber Alert

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State and federal investigators are trying to pinpoint the source of a fake Amber Alert that was sent out via text message, and possibly through Twitter.

The message reads, "AMBER ALERT. A 7 year-old girl was taken by a man driving a SILVER TRUCK." It also gives a license plate number, but doesn't specify what state.

"Yeah, I mean this is pretty serious business," says Utah Attorney General spokesman Paul Murphy. "When an Amber Alert goes out, a person has to think a child has been abducted. So that's as serious as it gets."

The effort is underway to find the culprit. An e-mail obtained that was sent to Utah officials from the director for the Amber Alert Training and Technical Assistance Program says a search was conducted for the license plate online, and recent Web discussions suggested it was from Arizona. Other posts suggest the text came from the Idaho Falls area, according to the e-mail.

Whoever is responsible could face charges. "If people are sending out bad information and putting people into a panic, they're harming the system that's aimed to protect children," Murphy says.

Investigators acknowledge much of the circulation now may simply be out of good will to help a kidnapped child. The Attorney General's Office is telling people to not forward the fake message and to rely upon official sources for Amber Alerts. People can go to www.wirelessamberalerts.org to sign up for legitimate Amber Alert texts.

E-mail: aadams@ksl.com