Are Thieves Handing Out Masks With Chemicals That Make You Pass Out?







Memes exploiting fear over the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have been widespread on social media.







































							False
['Thieves are exploiting the coronavirus pandemic by dousing masks in chemicals that render people unconscious and then robbing them.', '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.\n\nThe 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.”', 'Rumors about antifa plotting violence have coincided with the month of July and Gettysburg before.', 'A complete story is rarely told in a headline.', 'Social media rumors that two memorials in New York were vandalized proved misleading.', 'In August 2019, a 23-year-old unarmed Black man died after an encounter with police officers in Aurora, Colorado.', 'A chaotic scene in St. Louis sparked outrage, memes, and confusion.', 'Socialite Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested on sex abuse charges connected to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.', 'The white supremacist group made frequent use of the slogan more recently embraced by President Donald Trump, though they did not, as some claim, invent it.', "The question of past arrests often surfaces among people who want to rationalize police officers' actions when Black men are killed in custody.", 'You can claim anything if you remove the barrier of evidence.', 'Rumors about antifa plotting violence have coincided with the month of July and Gettysburg before.', '© 1995 - 2020 by Snopes Media Group Inc.', 'This material may not be reproduced without permission.', 'Snopes and the Snopes.com logo are registered service marks of Snopes.com']
Are Thieves Handing Out Masks With Chemicals That Make You Pass Out?