Toronto police issue public safety alert over red van people have been talking about

Toronto police are cautioning the public to keep an eye out for suspicious vehicles in their area, particularly a red van that one resident reported was slowly following her in the Wallace Emerson neighbourhood on Friday.

In the wee hours of the morning from around 12:30 a.m. onward, a woman claims to have been tailed for an entire hour by an "older red van" as she walked alone around Bloor St. and St. Clarens Ave., Emerson and Wallace Aves., and Miller and Lidner Streets.

The force's public safety alert about the incident follows numerous social media accounts of attempted abductions by a group of men in a red van near Dundas and Bathurst, though police told blogTO last week that none of those events had been formally reported to them.

"If someone has witnessed this happen then we would urge them to report it to police so we can investigate," a spokesperson for Toronto Police Service said.

Don't know if this is related to what was posted earlier this week re a red van around Dundas & Bathurst (no mention of attempted abductions by the police??), but please repost widely and be aware. #Toronto

— Shelley Rohar (@shelley_rohar) July 10, 2021

Again, authorities are asking anyone who has had a similar encounter with a vehicle matching the above description, or who notices anything suspicious at all in their area, to contact them; specifically, Detective Nimmo at 11 Division, who is on this case.

Thankfully, a woman who had gone missing in the DunBat area around the same time as the suspicious van and attempted kidnapping stories was eventually found safe and sound, though a number of other women are shaken up by their own experiences in the area.

One woman shared on social media that four men tried to drag her inside a red van, while another had said she was harassed, assaulted and grabbed by a group of men, also in a red van.

Women are again sharing warnings about of a group of men with a van trying to pull women into it.

This time: Watch out for four men with a red van near Dundas & Bathurst.

This was an issue in the area last summer as well.

Keep your eyes peeled & yourself/your friends safe.

— Breanna Needham (@Breanna_Needham) July 4, 2021

The accounts have been shared widely in recent days as residents attempt to warn one another, much like last summer, when there was a similar spate of attempted abductions and attacks against women in the Parkdale and Roncesvalles areas.