Woman Finds A Bizarre Wire Left On This Car’s Door, Another Man Explains That This Means Nothing Good, Goes Viral
Interview
Kidnappers and human traffickers are a plague on humanity. They flourish even in modern society, hiding in its dark, seedy underbelly, looking for victims. And however comfortable and safe we might feel, there is always the chance that one of us could be their next target.
A video by TikTok user Ice.lemon.water has been going viral showing wire wrapped around the door handles of two cars. Later, TikTok user Achunkyguy explained what, in their opinion, this means. He shared his take that this is a tactic that kidnappers allegedly use to distract their targets. In an interview with Bored Panda, Reece, aka Achunkyguy, confirmed that he doesn’t have “cold hard evidence” that this technique is used by kidnappers. “However from the response on some of my videos it’s safe to say it’s a widely known thing amongst women,” he shared his opinion.
Keep in mind, however, that there isn’t yet any official confirmation from the police that this is a real tactic that kidnappers use.
A TikTok video about wire on car door handles went viral, getting over 20 million views
Image credits: ice.lemon.water
The author of the video implied that this might be linked to tactics that kidnappers supposedly use
Image credits: ice.lemon.water
Here’s the video in full
@ice.lemon.waterWe thought it was a joke at first until we found the second one 😳 #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #scary #viral #trending #BoseAllOut♬ Scary – Background Sounds
Reece had some useful tips for staying safe on the streets and in public: “There are many ways we can all stay safe, from martial arts to personal defense weapons, however, I’d say the easiest way to just to stay vigilant, park in well-lit areas, be aware of your surroundings, have someone you love know where you are at all times, there are also good apps that can be used if you feel panicked, I personally know of ‘noonlight’ and the ‘Hollie Gaurd’ apps.”
When it comes to separating fact from fiction with regards to real/fake tactics used by kidnappers, it isn’t always easy. Reece suggests getting your news from reputable news sources. “With that in mind, I’ve never seen it happen myself nor have I heard of any stories locally, however, I live in the UK and human trafficking doesn’t make a splash in the bucket compared to the US, that being said dog-knapping in the UK is a very big problem and people will mark the outside of houses with a number and letter stating the amount and of what breeds, although not the same it’s still an organized tactic.”
Ice.lemon.water’s video got a whopping 20 million views. The people in the comments urged each other to stay safe and have something like pepper spray on their person at all times just in case it’s needed.
Meanwhile, Achunkyguy, aka Reece, told his 224.6k member audience that kidnappers supposedly wrap wire around door handles to keep their intended victims distracted for longer while they try to untangle everything.
Reece suggested that if you ever spot something like this on the door handle of your own car, you should go back to a populated area. You should also only approach your car if you’re not alone in order to stay safe.
In other words, your safety is paramount, so if you’re confused or scared, it’s best to ask for help. According to Reece, a lot of his followers are supposedly familiar with the wire tactic that kidnappers allegedly use.
It’s always a good idea to know self-defense and to be prepared if anyone does try to kidnap or mug you. However, this doesn’t mean that each and every strange thing shared on social media is a kidnapper’s attempt to bamboozle their target. Some are true, yes; others, however, are hoaxes that people come up with to get attention online or urban legends that are easy to spread in the internet age.
Another TikToker shared his take on what the wire means. In his opinion, it’s a tactic that kidnappers allegedly use to keep their targets busy
Image credits: achunkyguy
Image credits: achunkyguy
Image credits: achunkyguy
Image credits: achunkyguy
Image credits: achunkyguy
Image credits: achunkyguy
Image credits: achunkyguy
You can watch Reece’s full TikTok right over here
@achunkyguy#stitch with @ice.lemon.water one of the oldest tricks in the book #fy #fyp #fypシ #foryou #foryoupage #fortheladies #forthegirls♬ Scary – Background Sounds
For example, PolitiFact pointed out at the start of 2020 that the warning about sex traffickers linking two cars’ door handles with a zip tie contraption was unsubstantiated. The police had no reports of sex traffickers ever doing this. Meanwhile, nonprofit organizations that fight human trafficking also couldn’t confirm this.
“By far the most pervasive myth about human trafficking is that it always—or often—involves kidnapping or otherwise physically forcing someone into a situation. In reality, most human traffickers use psychological means such as tricking, defrauding, manipulating or threatening victims,” the Polaris Project pointed out.
Police officers have also debunked claims that kidnappers are allegedly leaving zip ties on other parts of their victims’ cars.
“It’s essentially like an urban legend or a scare-lore. The whole idea of the intent is just to scare people,” Lt. Brian Oleksyk from the Michigan State Police said about misinformation about zip ties placed around side mirrors.
“There’ve been other hoaxes that have been proven false like a flannel shirt on a windshield of a car or a specific parking lot of a shopping mall is grounds for sex-trafficking,” he said. “It slows us down from investigating real crimes. We have to prove that it’s a false hoax and it’s got no material to it.”
Meanwhile, Shari Montgomery, the founder of The House of Promise that helps victims of sex trafficking explained that hoaxes confuse the public and make it harder for everyone to separate fact from fiction.
“It’s frustrating because then the message gets really muddy and then we go back to almost square one trying to educate the public on what really is happening out there and what you really should look for,” Montgomery shared.
Some people shared their own tactics and tips for staying safe
Meanwhile, others shared that while staying safe is important, there’s no need to get paranoid
In short: keep your eyes and ears open, always have a better-safe-than-sorry mentality, but don’t live your life in constant fear of abduction.
TikTok probably gives new ideas to the kidnappers and is a plague of our modern society
The ones in the video isn't even wire but like curling ribbon. This is more like something a car thief would do to check if a car is not being used for long. Not kidnappers to "distract".
Load More Replies... Bla bla bla. If this came from a law enforcement specialist as an official warning, it would have significance. Here it is just an empty statement, likely to gain attention by a seemingly good deed. What is the likelihood of this being really done for kidnapping instead of as a prank by kids, particularly after a video like this goes viral? How many adults are actually kidnapped in Western countries? (You can guess the answer: very few but for human trafficking, which would not fall under the here described scheme.) And doesn't all statistics show that mostly children are kidnapped, and it in most cases is done by people they know? Stop spreading fear for attention! There are enough problems and dangers in this world that really need our consideration. @BP: Stop sharing uncreditable and unchecked allegations that are merely for clicks and better get back to your roots.
To those who argue "Better a warning too much than a warning too little": Constant warnings make us numb. Some will escape to anxiety and avoid interactions, and most will lose focus for the real dangers. Humans are chronically bad at approximating real risks – guidance is needed, not fearmongering.
Load More Replies...
I think this article could have been written in such a way as to give more prominence to the comments from law enforcement officers and charities which have debunked these scare stories. If you just scrolled down this story, as I did to begin with, you'd get a fairly skewed picture of the truth. The whole point is that there are content-chasers out there who are scaremongering. This article seems to be doing exactly the same!
Hang on - didn't Bored Panda print a story a few weeks ago about a bottle of water being left on a car roof and how that was also supposedly a kidnapping tactic because someone who had lots of followers said so? It's good that the editors of this site now include the blurb about this being a hoax, however most people skim through the blurb and read only the captions on the pictures. Honestly, do you think someone would go to the effort to distract a women long enough to manhandle her into a car in daylight in a public place? Cause you know, if they crept up behind her, she wouldn't be caught so offguard! STOP PUBLISHING THESE STORIES BORED PANDA!
The 2nd one doesn't even look like wire, it looks like curly ribbon, as if someone had balloons tied to the door handle or something.
Again? How does this fearmongering, lying rubbish end up in the featured section? What do we get next? Anti-vaxxer or scientology posts?
Looks like the rest of wedding decoration to me. In germany you often get one to leave at your car for good luck for the couple. Not everything is a trap.
Yes, hoax. And now dumb teenagers in my area are tying them on and standing back to watch if the person freaks out about it. On the other hand, there have been brazen car-jackings, purse snatchings and car window smash and grabs in broad daylight in my area. Most recent was at a CVS in mid afternoon. And I live in a "safe" place. I carry a decoy purse a lot. They can have the purse and the random crap in there while my cash, credit cards and phone are safely tucked into my pockets.
It looks like someone attached a balloon to the car. End of story.
Curly ribbon on my door handle... means someone tied a balloon to my car and the balloon got away. Oh well. I'll take the ribbon off when I get home. Some weirdo put the ribbon/balloon there. It happens. Prank or something. *yawn* ...
I don't congratulate Boredpanda on this one, as the title clearly goes in the "unnecessarily alarmist" direction...The only part of this article that you should read is this one : "For example, PolitiFact pointed out at the start of 2020 that the warning about sex traffickers linking two cars’ door handles with a zip tie contraption was unsubstantiated. The police had no reports of sex traffickers ever doing this. Meanwhile, nonprofit organizations that fight human trafficking also couldn’t confirm this."
This is fearmongering, ughhhhhhhhhhh. I guess I have to find another silly website since BP insists on just posting hoaxes
Oh, Christ, this is like that stupid email forward where women are warned not to wear ponytails or overalls because rapists will get you. For starters, most rapists are known to the victim. Second, human trafficking in a parking lot, where's there's a good chance of a lot of Karens? When all over the world, there are poor girls whose parents will sell them for a pittance. There is not a huge sex market for premenopausal suburban Lularoe sellers.
It's not even a wire, it's ribbon. Somebody probably tied a balloon on the car at some point. You know, for like a birthday or on game day or an I love you balloon.
What crap. Kidnappers don't stalk the parking lot of a big-box store. Distracting the victim would be their least worry. They'd be seen on camera and arrested, toot sweet.
This was similar to the girl them had a water bottle left on her car hood.
We already had a similar story about a bottle that kidnappers allegedly put on the hood of a car. Sure, it's important to be alert to your surroundings, but there's a difference between vigilance and paranoia. Swallowing every urban legend you can find on the Internet and giving in to panic won't do you any good.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/feb/29/facebook-posts/social-media-posts-issue-alarmist-warning-about-zi/
How does that slow anyone down? As shown, that's not hindering anyone from entering the car.
https://digg.com/2021/man-explains-why-you-should-be-careful-when-you-see-wire-on-your-car-handle
Well now there's a new way to play hoaxes on everyone with a f*****g drink bottle or piece of string. Is it true ? Probably not, traffickers don't usually pick open public spaces like this.
And our descent into a culture where every person is terrified of every other person they see continues unabated.
Ffs, traffickers groom extremely vulnerable women who are either living in poverty (like in developing countries) or are deprived, like girls in care or teen runaways. Trafficked victims are coerced into engaging in sex work through fear of being deported or going to prison. No trafficker in history has ever kidnapped a middle class suburban white woman.
In some countries they have to worry about kidnapping. In this country I would be more worried about being mugged. That distracted minute you take to remove the wire is enough for someone to grab you and take your things.
It seriously looks like there used to br a balloon attached to the door. While caution is always best, I would recommend going to the websites of the organizations mentioned above if you want accurate information.
I used to always forget what car was mine (an old Mercury sedan that looked like a million others), so I tied a ribbon to the door handle. Nothing nefarious there, only that I had to drive that damn car after I found it.
The more these things are written about the more people will attempt to do them. Because some people have a perverse sense of humor they will also get off on people's reactions. People learn to keep yourself safe at all times, males and females, even if your car self locks make sure it is locked, avoid any type of distractions. Blow or lean on your horn, create your own type of distraction. Always look for a police officer or help in a well lit area, be safe out there.
To all the other disabilities the common Tiktok user has, we now can add paranoia.
The desire to live in self-bolstering bubbles that resonate topics that you want to hear but are detached from reality is not a disability; it is a choice!
Load More Replies...
The scale of human trafficking/child sex slavery is GROTESQUELY exaggerated by dubious "charities" and lazy journalists. It feeds into idiocy such as Qanon.
I would get it off and while I do that, look at the reflective glass o my window so I would notice someone coming, and back-kick them in the groin
Let’s not forget that the same site also brought us the skullbreaker challenge...
i thought this was something to tell where the car is and someone follows it because of the wire but i think that if this was seen by someone sensible they would go to a police station.
So the kidnapper would be waiting around in broad daylight? It's not very convincing ...
Maybe this is a hoax, I don't know, but kidnappers will totally take you in the daylight. I had a neighbor who walked out of her house at 7:00 am and two men tried to wrestle her into a van. Her husband came outside with a gun and they left, but not before firing a couple of shots at him. Police said that sex traffickers were working the area pretty hard.
Hope you are being sarcastic. Happens everywhere.
Load More Replies... TikTok probably gives new ideas to the kidnappers and is a plague of our modern society
The ones in the video isn't even wire but like curling ribbon. This is more like something a car thief would do to check if a car is not being used for long. Not kidnappers to "distract".
Load More Replies... Bla bla bla. If this came from a law enforcement specialist as an official warning, it would have significance. Here it is just an empty statement, likely to gain attention by a seemingly good deed. What is the likelihood of this being really done for kidnapping instead of as a prank by kids, particularly after a video like this goes viral? How many adults are actually kidnapped in Western countries? (You can guess the answer: very few but for human trafficking, which would not fall under the here described scheme.) And doesn't all statistics show that mostly children are kidnapped, and it in most cases is done by people they know? Stop spreading fear for attention! There are enough problems and dangers in this world that really need our consideration. @BP: Stop sharing uncreditable and unchecked allegations that are merely for clicks and better get back to your roots.
To those who argue "Better a warning too much than a warning too little": Constant warnings make us numb. Some will escape to anxiety and avoid interactions, and most will lose focus for the real dangers. Humans are chronically bad at approximating real risks – guidance is needed, not fearmongering.
Load More Replies... I think this article could have been written in such a way as to give more prominence to the comments from law enforcement officers and charities which have debunked these scare stories. If you just scrolled down this story, as I did to begin with, you'd get a fairly skewed picture of the truth. The whole point is that there are content-chasers out there who are scaremongering. This article seems to be doing exactly the same!
Hang on - didn't Bored Panda print a story a few weeks ago about a bottle of water being left on a car roof and how that was also supposedly a kidnapping tactic because someone who had lots of followers said so? It's good that the editors of this site now include the blurb about this being a hoax, however most people skim through the blurb and read only the captions on the pictures. Honestly, do you think someone would go to the effort to distract a women long enough to manhandle her into a car in daylight in a public place? Cause you know, if they crept up behind her, she wouldn't be caught so offguard! STOP PUBLISHING THESE STORIES BORED PANDA!
The 2nd one doesn't even look like wire, it looks like curly ribbon, as if someone had balloons tied to the door handle or something.
Again? How does this fearmongering, lying rubbish end up in the featured section? What do we get next? Anti-vaxxer or scientology posts?
Looks like the rest of wedding decoration to me. In germany you often get one to leave at your car for good luck for the couple. Not everything is a trap.
Yes, hoax. And now dumb teenagers in my area are tying them on and standing back to watch if the person freaks out about it. On the other hand, there have been brazen car-jackings, purse snatchings and car window smash and grabs in broad daylight in my area. Most recent was at a CVS in mid afternoon. And I live in a "safe" place. I carry a decoy purse a lot. They can have the purse and the random crap in there while my cash, credit cards and phone are safely tucked into my pockets.
It looks like someone attached a balloon to the car. End of story.
Curly ribbon on my door handle... means someone tied a balloon to my car and the balloon got away. Oh well. I'll take the ribbon off when I get home. Some weirdo put the ribbon/balloon there. It happens. Prank or something. *yawn* ...
I don't congratulate Boredpanda on this one, as the title clearly goes in the "unnecessarily alarmist" direction...The only part of this article that you should read is this one : "For example, PolitiFact pointed out at the start of 2020 that the warning about sex traffickers linking two cars’ door handles with a zip tie contraption was unsubstantiated. The police had no reports of sex traffickers ever doing this. Meanwhile, nonprofit organizations that fight human trafficking also couldn’t confirm this."
This is fearmongering, ughhhhhhhhhhh. I guess I have to find another silly website since BP insists on just posting hoaxes
Oh, Christ, this is like that stupid email forward where women are warned not to wear ponytails or overalls because rapists will get you. For starters, most rapists are known to the victim. Second, human trafficking in a parking lot, where's there's a good chance of a lot of Karens? When all over the world, there are poor girls whose parents will sell them for a pittance. There is not a huge sex market for premenopausal suburban Lularoe sellers.
It's not even a wire, it's ribbon. Somebody probably tied a balloon on the car at some point. You know, for like a birthday or on game day or an I love you balloon.
What crap. Kidnappers don't stalk the parking lot of a big-box store. Distracting the victim would be their least worry. They'd be seen on camera and arrested, toot sweet.
This was similar to the girl them had a water bottle left on her car hood.
We already had a similar story about a bottle that kidnappers allegedly put on the hood of a car. Sure, it's important to be alert to your surroundings, but there's a difference between vigilance and paranoia. Swallowing every urban legend you can find on the Internet and giving in to panic won't do you any good.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/feb/29/facebook-posts/social-media-posts-issue-alarmist-warning-about-zi/
How does that slow anyone down? As shown, that's not hindering anyone from entering the car.
https://digg.com/2021/man-explains-why-you-should-be-careful-when-you-see-wire-on-your-car-handle
Well now there's a new way to play hoaxes on everyone with a f*****g drink bottle or piece of string. Is it true ? Probably not, traffickers don't usually pick open public spaces like this.
And our descent into a culture where every person is terrified of every other person they see continues unabated.
Ffs, traffickers groom extremely vulnerable women who are either living in poverty (like in developing countries) or are deprived, like girls in care or teen runaways. Trafficked victims are coerced into engaging in sex work through fear of being deported or going to prison. No trafficker in history has ever kidnapped a middle class suburban white woman.
In some countries they have to worry about kidnapping. In this country I would be more worried about being mugged. That distracted minute you take to remove the wire is enough for someone to grab you and take your things.
It seriously looks like there used to br a balloon attached to the door. While caution is always best, I would recommend going to the websites of the organizations mentioned above if you want accurate information.
I used to always forget what car was mine (an old Mercury sedan that looked like a million others), so I tied a ribbon to the door handle. Nothing nefarious there, only that I had to drive that damn car after I found it.
The more these things are written about the more people will attempt to do them. Because some people have a perverse sense of humor they will also get off on people's reactions. People learn to keep yourself safe at all times, males and females, even if your car self locks make sure it is locked, avoid any type of distractions. Blow or lean on your horn, create your own type of distraction. Always look for a police officer or help in a well lit area, be safe out there.
To all the other disabilities the common Tiktok user has, we now can add paranoia.
The desire to live in self-bolstering bubbles that resonate topics that you want to hear but are detached from reality is not a disability; it is a choice!
Load More Replies... The scale of human trafficking/child sex slavery is GROTESQUELY exaggerated by dubious "charities" and lazy journalists. It feeds into idiocy such as Qanon.
I would get it off and while I do that, look at the reflective glass o my window so I would notice someone coming, and back-kick them in the groin
Let’s not forget that the same site also brought us the skullbreaker challenge...
i thought this was something to tell where the car is and someone follows it because of the wire but i think that if this was seen by someone sensible they would go to a police station.
So the kidnapper would be waiting around in broad daylight? It's not very convincing ...
Maybe this is a hoax, I don't know, but kidnappers will totally take you in the daylight. I had a neighbor who walked out of her house at 7:00 am and two men tried to wrestle her into a van. Her husband came outside with a gun and they left, but not before firing a couple of shots at him. Police said that sex traffickers were working the area pretty hard.
Hope you are being sarcastic. Happens everywhere.
Load More Replies...
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