In Neunkirchen, a man is said to lure children into his “white van”. Apparently the guy drives all over Germany - and has been doing so for over 8 years.
A warning is circulating on Facebook about a man who lures children into his “white van”.
The warning concerns Neunkirchen and the surrounding area, but the guy is supposed to drive throughout Germany.
This is false news that has been circulating on social media platforms since the end of 2011.
The message has been shared again on Facebook since the beginning of February 2020. It's about the following text:

DANGER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Attention to all Neunkirchen and surrounding areas. Today the police were at the schools in KH and pointed out again that we should tell all children that they should under no circumstances get into a white van! A VW Bulli has now been seen several times and the man has pretended to be a VBE driver and told the children that the buses are defective. The guy is probably driving all over Germany, so post it!!! (...Even if you don't have children, please post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The fact check
The news is an incredible 8 years old. The text begins at the end of 2011. ( we reported )
An excerpt from the “Augsburger Allgemeine” from October 15, 2011 states:
The story would almost have something strange if the background weren't so serious. And wouldn't it be about the genuine fears and concerns of so many people. It starts on September 19th in Kempten. The new school year has just started. A man speaks to a group of children from a car near a primary school. Apparently there is a short conversation, the children stop and the blue car drives away. The police received a report about the incident on the same day - including a description of the person and the license plate number of the vehicle.
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With the detailed information, the police have an easy job. She identifies the driver – and can give the all-clear pretty quickly. As it turns out, the man wanted to pick up his granddaughter from school, but missed it so he asked her classmates.
So far so good. The story could actually end at this point with the note “misunderstanding cleared up”. But she doesn't. Because at this point the rumor about the mysterious driver was already circulating.
After that, the story quickly took on a life of its own and was spread in several versions on social media platforms. It didn't matter whether this mysterious man was traveling in northern Germany or southern Austria at the same time. In many cases the hoax could be cleared up quite quickly. For example, two elementary school children in Klagenfurt only imagined the kidnapper. ( look here )
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In Germany, too, it turned out that the information only came from “hearsay” or that it was picked up on social media platforms and simply passed on. the source for the press release is no longer available today:

Conclusion:
This is a false report that has been circulating since October 2011. This example shows that even after more than 8 years, the Internet doesn't forget.
Then as now, the following applies: break the chain and don't share the message! Check with local police and do your research before sharing a warning on social media.
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

