Update: _ In late 1999 through early 2002, versions circulating on the Internet which involve prospective gang members looking to kidnap a woman for rape reappeared with surprising frequency. These morphing e-mails contained specific city names (such as Chicago or Boston) and names of local chains of gas stations/convenience stores (such as "Quik Trip," "Quick Trip," "Quick Stop," "Kwik Trip," "Kwikfill," and "Citgo"). Later versions incorporated the ankle slasher motif from another horror legend.

In September 2003, Cpl. Daniel Brub, an Interpol agent at RCMP headquarters in Ottawa, added his imprimatur to the tale when a well-traveled e-mail (gang members after body parts abducting women at gas stations) picked up his official signature. Many understood it to be an official alert from someone speaking on behalf of law enforcement. Versions soon after began circulating titled, "Warning for Ottawa women from RCMP Criminal Operations, Interpol Ottawa."

Yet Cpl. Brub wasn't speaking for Interpol or the RCMP, nor was he confirming incidents in the Ottawa area (there haven't been any). The sum total of his involvement amounted to passing the story to colleagues to ask what they knew about it. How his e-mail escaped into the wild remains a mystery.