Instead of getting into her car, West explains she went across the street – shopping bags still in her arms – until it was safe to return to her vehicle.
When she got to her car, she saw a water bottle sitting on top of the hood.
She said, “I don’t know if the two correlate, but it’s never happened to me…I gotta get out of here.”
Before pointing out “Harpers Point, Cincinnati,” she adds, “I just wanted to highlight that you should always be mindful of your surroundings, especially if you’re a woman. “Be careful out there.”
After her video went viral, the woman followed up with a response from a viewer.
In a now-deleted video, the user wa:rns of a dark motive for the bottle on her car’s hood.
“This is a tactic used by traffickers and kidnappers to get you to exit your vehicle…If you have this happen and something is on the hood of your car when you come back to it, leave it there, drive away it’ll fall off on its own.”
Urban legends
In fact, following a viral post about a zip tie drug trap, Michigan State Police issued an advice against disinformation on social media.
“It’s similar to an urban legend or scare-lore. Lt. Brian Oleksyk told WILX10 that the objective is just to intimidate people. Speaking about other hoaxes, such as a flannel shirt on a car’s windshield or an elastic band around the side mirror, Oleksyk claims that fraudsters do not inform their victims.
“This is not the way it’s done…””They rarely prey on strangers,” he claimed. “It slows down our investigation of genuine crimes. We must establish that it is a bogus deception with no substance.”
