- In August 2025, highly-circulated movies claimed dozens of youngsters went lacking in Virginia in a “mass abduction.” A number of well-liked posts referred to as on authorities to subject Amber Alerts. Others claimed ice cream vans with lights and music driving round at night time had been associated to the alleged kidnappings.
- Virginia State Police explicitly said there was no proof of a “mass abduction” within the state. Fairly, the variety of lacking little one stories (88 whole) from Aug. 3 to 9, 2025, was decrease than the state’s weekly 2025 common of 98. As of this writing (Aug. 20), eight youngsters from that point span stay lacking.
- The variety of lacking youngsters in Virginia is often greater than in different U.S. states as a result of the state stories all missing-child instances — together with those that run away from residence voluntarily — to the Nationwide Heart for Lacking and Exploited Kids. This makes it the outlier amongst states. Moreover, authorities do not subject Amber Alerts until they meet strict standards, together with adequate proof {that a} little one was taken unwillingly.
- Virginia State Police mentioned in an e mail they haven’t any proof of ice cream vans’ involvement in any of the lacking youngsters instances, and Snopes discovered that some of the movies implying such proof exists had been blatantly deceptive.
In mid-August 2025, dozens of posts unfold throughout a number of platforms claiming claimed a “mass abduction” of youngsters occurred in Virginia.
The claims diverse intimately — some mentioned 50 children had gone missing in a span of 10 days, others mentioned 80 children went missing within 12 days (archived) — however the overarching declare remained constant: An unusually excessive variety of youngsters had been lacking, suggesting a mass kidnapping. Many posts claimed that no Amber Alert went off (archived) for these dozens of lacking youngsters, and others claimed (archived, archived) that ice cream vans with lights and music on driving round at night time had one thing to do with it.
(TikTok consumer @tkay7411)
Primarily based on statements from the Virginia State Police and information from the Nationwide Heart for Lacking and Exploited Kids, these fears surrounding an alleged “mass abduction” had been out of proportion with actuality and largely conspiratorial.
Because the state police confirmed in a information launch, 88 cases of missing children had been recorded Aug. 3-9, 2025 — which stood under the present 2025 weekly common of 98 lacking youngsters instances in Virginia. Even then, information exhibits that almost all youngsters reported lacking are discovered to have voluntarily run away from residence and both voluntarily return or are discovered by authorities, based on police.
Under, we clarify the information, what we all know based mostly on official police statements and why Amber Alerts weren’t issued for the handfuls of lacking youngsters. We additionally look extra intently on the claims that ice cream vans had been by some means concerned.
Knowledge exhibits no proof of ‘mass abductions’ in Virginia
In a public statement (archived) revealed Aug. 13, state police explicitly confirmed there was no proof of “mass abductions” occurring in Virginia.
In reality, throughout the approximate time vary cited for lots of the instances, Aug. 3 to 9, there have been 88 lacking youngsters reported in contrast with the 2025 weekly common of 98. Subsequently, whereas these movies gained traction and brought about on-line panic, the claims of mass abduction had been false and the information indicated a lower-than-average variety of youngsters went lacking throughout that point span.
One portion of the assertion learn:
ANECDOTALLY, MOST OF THE CHILDREN REPORTED MISSING ARE RUNAWAYS, AND MOST RETURN SHORTLY AFTER BEING REPORTED MISSING.
Right here is the information:
- Final week, Aug. 3-9, 2025, 88 youngsters had been reported lacking to the MCC [Virginia Missing Children Clearinghouse].
- The 2025 weekly common of lacking youngsters in Virginia is 98.
- Since January 2025 to present, a complete of three,274 youngsters have been reported lacking to the MCC. Of those, 141 (as of 10:30 am Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025) are nonetheless lacking or roughly 4%.
- Virginia State Police has issued a complete of 25 CODI Alerts in 2025 to this point. All had been discovered. This features a CODI Alert Monday morning, August 11, 2025, that was issued from Manassas Park, which was additionally cancelled Monday morning after the topic was discovered protected.
- Virginia State Police issued a complete of two Amber Alerts in 2025 to this point. All discovered.
In an e mail to Snopes, Robin Lawson, a spokesperson for the Virginia State Police, clarified that this information doesn’t robotically imply 88 youngsters had been lacking, as a result of “a toddler could be entered greater than as soon as in the event that they go away residence greater than as soon as.” She additionally confirmed that of the 88 stories of lacking youngsters, 9 youngsters remained lacking as of Aug. 18. As of this writing, eight youngsters stay lacking.
This information matches the outcomes of the Nationwide Heart for Lacking and Exploited Kids, a personal, nonprofit 501(c)(3) company that maintains a national database for monitoring lacking youngsters. As of this writing, eight youngsters listed as lacking from Aug. 3 to 9 are nonetheless lacking, that means authorities solely recorded one little one discovered since Lawson’s assertion.
(missingkids.org)
Why Virginia stories extra lacking children than different states
The Virginia police assertion claimed the state had reported extra lacking youngsters to the NCMEC than different states resulting from its coverage of forwarding each missing-child case to the group, together with instances wherein youngsters ran away from residence voluntarily. It learn:
Virginia has reported extra lacking youngsters than different states on the Nationwide Heart for Lacking and Exploited Youngsters (NCMEC) web site. It’s because Virginia State Police forwards EVERY lacking little one case to NCMEC. In response to NCMEC, Virginia is probably the most pro-active in sending instances to their web site. Virginia does this to centralize lacking youngsters’s instances to allow them to all be reviewed in a single location. Many different clearinghouses put up their instances to their very own web site. In Virginia, the MCC makes use of NCMEC because the clearinghouse web site.
Patti Davis, a spokesperson for the NCMEC, confirmed Virginia is probably the most proactive state by way of sending instances to the NCMEC, and she or he additionally famous that “there is no such thing as a nationwide requirement to report lacking youngsters to us — simply these lacking from state care. Many runaways aren’t reported to us.”
What about Amber or Codi alerts?
Many social media customers identified that the state didn’t subject an Amber Alert or Codi Alert (a Virginia missing-child alert system that launched in 2024). Lacking youngsters instances are required to satisfy strict standards for Amber Alert or Codi Alert issuance.
These standards are, based on the police assertion:
Standards for the Activation of the CODI Alert
- Any particular person 17 years of age or youthful or is at the moment enrolled in a secondary college within the Commonwealth.
- The kid’s whereabouts are unknown.
- The kid’s disappearance is beneath suspicious circumstances or poses a reputable menace as decided by regulation enforcement to the security and well being of the kid.
- Primarily based on every other circumstances as deemed applicable by the Virginia State Police.
Standards for the Activation of the AMBER Alert Plan
- The kidnapped little one should be 17 years of age or youthful or at the moment enrolled in a secondary college within the Commonwealth, no matter age, and the reporting regulation enforcement company believes the kid has been kidnapped (unwillingly taken from their atmosphere with out permission from the kid’s father or mother or authorized guardian).
- The regulation enforcement company believes the lacking little one is in imminent hazard of significant bodily hurt or demise.
- A regulation enforcement investigation has taken place that verified the kidnapping or eradicated various explanations.
- Enough info is on the market to disseminate to the general public that might help in finding the kid, suspect, and/or the suspect’s automobile.
- The kid should be entered into the Virginia Felony Data Community (VCIN) and the Nationwide Crime Data Heart (NCIC) lacking particular person information as quickly as sensible.
As said above, Virginia police had issued 25 Codi Alerts and two Amber Alerts in 2025 as of Aug. 13, and police reported the kids as “discovered” in all 27 instances. Aside from one Virginia Amber Alert from Aug. 11 wherein authorities discovered the kid the identical morning they issued the alert, the opposite instances within the specified timeframe didn’t meet the factors.
Are ice cream vans concerned?
Dozens of videos, significantly on TikTok, unfold the declare that individuals had been utilizing ice cream vans to lure youngsters in. The movies confirmed ice cream vans driving by means of neighborhoods at night time with lights and music taking part in as alleged proof.
These movies obtained hundreds of thousands of views, and customers within the remark sections appeared to imagine that the movies had been proof of ice cream vans’ involvement in a “mass abduction” of youngsters.
As proven above, there is no such thing as a proof of any “mass abduction” of youngsters in Virginia — the declare is fake. Moreover, Lawson — the Virginia State Police spokesperson — mentioned in an e mail that police didn’t have any proof of ice cream vans’ involvement in instances of lacking youngsters. “I can affirm that we’re NOT investigating any ice cream vans presently, nor do we’ve any proof to help the rumored hypothesis of the involvement of an ice cream truck in relation to any lacking youngsters,” she mentioned.
A number of the movies had been blatantly deceptive. For instance, one video with greater than 5.7 million views, as of this writing, started with footage apparently exhibiting somebody in a big pickup truck making an attempt to drag a drive-thru employee by means of the service window, not an ice cream truck driver abducting a toddler.
(TikTok consumer @maqbobbe9yj)
Whereas there is no such thing as a formal investigation as of this writing into the alleged involvement of ice cream vans within the lacking little one instances, there’s additionally no proof of such involvement in any of the resolved instances from early August 2025, nor within the remaining eight unsolved instances of youngsters who went lacking from Aug. 3 to 9 in Virginia.
What can we study from these findings?
Snopes is just not new to instances of widespread panics surrounding false, unfounded or exaggerated claims. We have fact-checked claims concerning marijuana edibles in Halloween candy, Venezuelan gang members taking over a Colorado apartment, mystery drones flying over New Jersey and extra. Misinformation may cause undue panic that distracts from actual issues at hand.
In its Aug. 13 assertion, the Virginia State Police provided the next tricks to dad and mom or guardians to assist hold youngsters protected:
- Have your little one practice making 9-1-1 calls from each a cellphone and a landline (unplugged or with batteries eliminated).
- Make sure that your little one is aware of to not settle for rides from strangers and to not belief a stranger who suggests they go off alone collectively for any purpose, for instance, to discover a misplaced pet, and so forth.
- Inform your little one to let you realize instantly if one other grownup suggests preserving secrets and techniques from you.
- By no means go away your little one alone within the automotive, even for a minute.
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