JOPLIN, Mo. – Joplin Police Department addresses a recent hoax on Facebook where a false account claims a serial killer is on the loose.

As the post spread across the nation, multiple police departments released statements.

JPD Police Sergeant Andy Blair said many times, these social media hoaxes are solely to spread fear.

“You have just the people who are wanting to cause scare in the community; that’s their driver, so a lot of times that will be it, causing some scare and some worry among the community, and we obviously don’t want that to be the case so we quickly want to try to shut that down and figure out if there is any truth behind it,” Blair stated.

Blair says if you do not know if a post is real, contact the police.

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