The internet is a danger zone for lies and misinformation as we’ve learned time and time again, but when somebody shares a traumatic story, like how they were almost sex trafficked, you wouldn’t suspect they were lying — after all, why would someone lie about that?
Well turns out people don’t need much of an incentive to lie, as a video posted to TikTok earlier this week has demonstrated. The video in question features a woman by the name of Abby telling a “true” story that happened to her earlier. Apparently she was approached by some men in Walmart who told her she was parked in a “members only” parking spot, she then proceeded to give them her information and later spoke to Walmart staff about how the men had made her feel unsafe. She’s accompanied out to her car by a Walmart worker by the name of Kira, and they find an AirTag under the hood of her car.
The story was quickly proven to be a lie
This kind of stuff does happen, as there are some nasty people out there, however, this particular story is not completely true. Abby’s video has since been deleted, and her account has vanished from TikTok. The reason for her disappearance might be because Kira, the Walmart worker, posted a response video in which she debunked the story, even stating that her manager had the CCTV footage.
Whilst certain parts did happen, like the men approaching Abby to tell her about her car, the whole sex trafficking part would appear to be a complete fabrication. Kira revealed that the men who harassed Abby were “YouTube pranksters.” I haven’t watched pranks on YouTube for a while, I prefer to watch them on TikTok, but it sounds like the genre is dead if telling a woman she’s parked in the wrong spot is the best joke they could come up with. Either way, they weren’t traffickers, and Kira confirms that no AirTags were found under the car bonnet, and you have to wonder how someone would even get an AirTag in there anyway. But in the interest of public services, you can find out more on Snopes about the use of AirTag by human traffickers here.
There’s been a pretty heated response to the drama, which is understandable. People really do go through this kind of thing, and pretending to be a victim is pretty insulting to the real victims. One TikToker simply asked “why would she do that?” The story was posted on Abby’s personal account as well, so her full name is public knowledge. Of course, some people decided to go and cyberbully her, and of course, they found the first person with her name and assumed it was her, and of course, they were wrong. Her account is long gone now, but her lies live on.