Police believe a text message circulating over the past week warning about gang activity outside of a Wal-Mart is a hoax.

The message warns about a “gang initiation” and shooting people, sometimes three women, at an unspecified Wal-Mart, according to text messages forwarded to several members of the Northern Star staff. The message also urges people to forward the message and says the warning comes from police.

“There was no credibility,” said DeKalb Police Chief Bill Feithen. “Whether it was somebody’s idea of a cool joke or whether it was some sort of revenge against Wal-Mart, in any case, it was not a credible threat, and everything is fine.”

According to Snopes.com, a Web site on urban legends, the first form of this scam started in July 2005. The scam has had many forms since its start, warning about gang violence or initiations at a Wal-Mart or similar store chains while claiming to come from credible sources.

DeKalb Police believe these messages are a spin-off of incidents from Florida and Georgia earlier this week, which has grown across state lines, Feithen said.

The department received notice from a Chicago suburban police unit after a woman received a text message with the information about a potential incident and contacted police right away, said DeKalb Police Sgt. John Petragallo Wednesday night. Additional units were sent to the DeKalb Wal-Mart, 2300 Sycamore Road, Wednesday as a precaution, Petragallo said.

Editor’s Note: Editor in Chief Michael Van Der Harst contributed to this story.

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