Do you just have to share a fake often enough before some weirdo gets the idea to maybe put it into practice? (As of: November 27, 2017)
Perhaps this is what happened in Hemer in the Märkisches Kreis.
One might initially assume that someone saw the warning about poisoned letters as a great template and turned a fake into reality. This at least led to a major operation at the Hemer police station. However, it is still unclear whether it was really a poisoned letter, as no toxic substances were found. On November 24th, 2017 around 7:00 p.m., a 31-year-old woman from Hemer appeared at the Hemer police station. She handed the police officers a suspicious item. A few moments later, four police officers and the lady experienced health reactions in the form of itching, nausea and dizziness. The item was an envelope. He was taken outside and the fire department was called. Since it could not be ruled out at this point that the item was contaminated with an unknown substance, the police and fire department cordoned off the area around the station. But this is where things get even crazier!
And now? What was the issue?
The analytical task force from the Dortmund fire department was called in and carried out investigations. No toxic substances could be found. What ultimately led to the people being injured, the exact sequence of events and the origin of the letter are now the subject of the investigation. The letter was confiscated. A total of five slightly injured people were able to be released on site after medical treatment.
The cause of the complaints and the origin of the franked letter will continue to be investigated.
And now we're all standing here and nobody knows anything for sure: No toxic substances were found, but 5 people were slightly injured.
What really happened in Hemer? We will have to wait for the press and police reports in the next few days. What is undeniable, however, is that the hysteria that arose from the false reports distributed thousands of times may have manifested itself here in some form. Maybe someone actually used a letter as a central element, maybe the letter has nothing to do with it and is a random symbolic accessory, or in the end there is a completely different result. We will definitely bring a resolution to this story because it is interesting on several levels and also important because it also raises questions:
- How much can false reports distributed thousands of times affect their recipients? At what point were they shared so often that someone came up with the idea of making these processes a reality?
- Or was something else the trigger and the fake sharepic ultimately led to the envelope being seen as the reason, while the cause of the injuries lies elsewhere and the letter came into play because of the fake?
However, it is likely that the police will increase their surveillance activities in this area in the future.
Source: Police press release
Notes:
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