claim: thieves are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic by dousing masks in chemicals that render people unconscious and then robbing them.
question: are thieves handing out masks with chemicals that make you pass out?
origin: in late march and early april 2020, a hoax circulated on facebook “warning” people that criminals were handing out face masks “door-to-door” amid the ongoing covid-19 coronavirus disease pandemic. the masks purportedly contained a chemical that caused the wearer to fall unconscious and allowed the criminal to then rob them.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  the wording of the message was vague, which allowed it to spread globally, and also made it impossible to verify with any local or even federal law enforcement agency. but we found no warnings from any such agency or from any news outlets reporting that such crimes were occurring. by searching the text of the message on facebook, we located two videos of apparent social media stunts in which people acted out the scenario, but no evidence that the warning was legitimate.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  because no evidence exists that this crime is occurring in a widespread fashion, and because the content of the warning spreading on social media was too vague to even verify, we rate this claim “false.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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comment: memes exploiting fear over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have been widespread on social media.
summary: in late march and early april 2020, a hoax circulated on facebook “warning’ people that criminals were handing out face masks. the masks purportedly contained a chemical that caused the wearer to fall unconscious and allowed the criminal to then rob them. because no evidence exists that this crime is occurring in a widespread fashion, and because the content of the warning spreading on social media was too vague to even verify, we rate this claim "false"