After several social media posts caused fears that children were being kidnapped across Virginia, state police said the rumors were false.
“Virginia State Police is aware of multiple social media posts raising concerns about missing children across the Commonwealth of Virginia,” the agency said. “Virginia State Police is not investigating any reports of mass abductions in Virginia, nor is there evidence of mass abductions occurring in Virginia.”
13NewsNow reported that TikTok videos wrongly claimed there was a “mass kidnapping” in Virginia.
The TikTok craze has been compared to the 2025 horror movie Weapons. In the film, children go missing, causing panic and chaos.
State police explained that Virginia reports more missing children to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Kids than any other state.
“According to NCMEC, Virginia is the most proactive in sending cases to their website,” state police said in a statement.
The agency added context about the number of missing children in Virginia. During the week of Aug. 3 to Aug. 9 — when many of the social media posts appeared — 88 children were reported missing.
State police noted that this total was lower than the 2025 weekly average of 98 missing children.
Since the start of the year, 3,274 children have been reported missing in Virginia. Most of them were runaways, and only 4% remain missing, according to state police.
Only two AMBER Alerts have been issued by Virginia State Police in 2025, and both children were found.
