An alleged mass kidnapping in Virginia has left cops scrambling to respond to worried parents with state police saying the rumors aren’t true, despite a surge in reports. 

Virginia State Police issued a statement over a surge of viral TikTok videos that claimed a mass of abduction of children has been taking place since August 1.

Many other videos followed up by raising concerns of an alleged ‘mass kidnapper’, one of the viral videos urged users, ‘be careful everyone.’

‘A mass kidnapper in VA, 19 kids missing in 10 DAYS, watch your kids please,’ the video said. 

But police shot down these claims in a damning statement, saying there is ‘no evidence’ of any mass abductions in the state. 

They said they have had a surge in reports of missing children than other states on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Kids (NCMEC) website.

However, this is because ‘Virginia State Police forwards EVERY missing child case to NCMEC’ and is the most ‘pro-active’ in sending cases to the website. 

‘Virginia State Police is not investigating any reports of mass abductions in Virginia, nor is there evidence of mass abductions occurring in Virginia,’ state police said in a release.

‘Virginia does this to centralize missing children’s cases so they can all be reviewed in one location. Many other clearinghouses post their cases to their own website. In Virginia, the MCC uses NCMEC as the clearinghouse site,’ the release said. 

From August 3 to August 9, 88 children were reported missing to the MCC, according to the release. 

An average of 98 children were reported missing each week in the state, police said. 

‘Since January 2025 to current, a total of 3,274 children have been reported missing to the MCC. Of these, 141 (as of 10:30 am Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025) are still missing or approximately 4%,’ the release said. 

As well as the missing children, some social media users have expressed their discomfort over ice cream trucks seemingly patrolling late at night.  

Police noted that many recent missing child reports stemmed from children running away from home, 13 News Now reported. 

Authorities noted that almost all missing children cases are investigated at the local level, from the town where they are reported missing. 

When a child is missing, local agencies have two hours to report it to state authorities in order for them to issue a CODI or Amber Alert, the release said.

Police urged parents to have children ‘practice making 911 calls’ from a cellphone and landline.

They also asked to make sure children know ‘not to accept rides from strangers and not to trust a stranger who suggests they go off alone together for any reason, for example, to find a lost puppy, etc.’

‘Tell your child to let you know immediately if another adult suggests keeping secrets from you. Never leave your child alone in the car, even for a minute’, police said.