Original article (in Montenegrin) was published on 22/19/2025; Author: Marko Vukajlović
All of Montenegro was on edge last week due to panic sparked on social media – panic concerning those who are most vulnerable among us: children.
Before dawn had even broken, Instagram was “on fire” with posts claiming that a child had been snatched from a mother’s arms in a shopping mall in Podgorica, but that, following a timely intervention by security, everything had ended without major consequences – except, according to social media claims, that the child was found with a shaved head and tape over their mouth.
As if that were not enough, the narrative was further inflamed with anti-migrant sentiment, and the first accused in the online community were, by default, Turks. The bulk of the panic-mongering was carried out by internet “influencers” who, irresponsibly and without any verification or a shred of doubt, shared details of the alleged kidnapping with their tens, and even hundreds, of thousands of followers.
Have you heard that a child was literally taken from a mother right in front of her eyes, in broad daylight? At Big Fashion? That after the shopping mall was immediately closed, the child was found in a restroom with tape over their mouth and a shaved head?
I received information that it was a group of Turks and that this is not the first case. Why haven’t we been informed? Have precautionary measures been raised to the maximum? Who controls who enters our country?
Who are the people photographing children on our streets? That too has been noticed in Podgorica. What are they doing here? Who gave them permission to stay? And the most important question: are our children in Montenegro safe? We see that independence is being promoted – children going to school on their own, etc.
A group of Turks kidnaps children.
They steal food and other items from Glovo deliveries…
They kill, beat, rape…
Concerned parents exchanged messages in Viber groups, and such conversations could also be heard on the streets, as people commented on this – hardly an exaggeration to say – terrifying incident…
Given how quickly the story took on serious proportions, the police reacted and said that the posts about a child kidnapping were false: (archived here: here)
“Regarding posts on social media that have caused public disturbance and relate to an alleged attempt to kidnap a child in a shopping mall in Podgorica – where it is claimed that a foreign national is responsible – the Police Directorate states that no such incident, nor any similar one that could be linked to these claims, has been reported to them.
The police appealed to citizens not to disseminate unverified information or spread panic by sharing this false post.
‘The Police Directorate acts immediately, without delay, upon every report relating to children and minors,’ the Directorate stated.”
The company BIG CEE, whose shopping mall is at the center of the story, also responded. Although it took several days for an official statement to be issued, the company told Raskrinkavanjethat the story is not grounded in reality, and other media outlets were informed as well (archived: here).
“BIG CEE informs the public that information circulating in the media and on social networks about an alleged attempt to kidnap a child at BIG FASHION Podgorica is completely inaccurate and unfounded. This is confirmed by the Police Directorate’s statement, which appealed to citizens not to spread unverified information.
Some viral posts claimed that a child had gone missing, that the center was closed, and that the child was allegedly found in a restroom with two foreign nationals. We emphasize that all of these claims are false. The center operated normally at all times, without any closure during business hours.
The Police Directorate unequivocally confirmed that no incident has been reported that could be linked to these claims, thereby fully refuting all rumors.
The authors of these posts are spreading false and malicious information, causing unnecessary fear and failing to consider the consequences such fear has for parents and citizens. The company’s management and the BIG FASHION Podgorica center clearly state that any real incident would be immediately reported to the competent institutions and treated with the utmost seriousness – because visitor safety is our absolute priority.”
While Montenegrin parents and the wider public were asking who was “snatching our children right under our noses” and what should be done, those who had sparked the panic deleted their original posts and began to backpedal with explanations that perhaps the situation had not actually occurred, but that it was important to talk about such issues – and that it was better to spread a falsehood and later debunk it than to remain silent.
Parents would likely disagree.
UNICEF Drawn into the Story
As the story unfolded, additional claims began circulating: that men were photographing children at playgrounds, and that certain “suspicious individuals” were roaming Podgorica neighborhoods, allegedly registering children while presenting themselves as being engaged by UNICEF. Reactions followed from UNICEF and Monstat, who stated that the preparatory phase for the MICS survey conducted by the Statistical Office was underway. Monstat announced:
“The Statistical Office, in cooperation with UNICEF, is currently conducting the sixth round of the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), an internationally recognized and comparable survey for collecting data on the status of children, women, and families in Montenegro. The survey is conducted on the general population, as well as a separate survey on the Roma population.
The preparatory phase is currently underway and includes collecting data on the number of children in households and their ages. This phase is carried out exclusively for statistical purposes, in accordance with the highest data protection standards, meaning that no data about a child or any household member may, in line with ethical research standards, be disclosed publicly by enumerators or any expert involved in the research and data processing.”
UNICEF stated that enumerators in the field during the preparatory phase are authorized by the Statistical Office and are required to present identification cards and official authorization, and that participation in the survey is voluntary. They also called on all citizens, in the event of doubt or to prevent possible misuse, to contact the Statistical Office directly.
For RTCG, reactions also came from NGOs “Sistem” and the Roma Council, who stated that there had been no attempts to kidnap children and called on everyone not to spread disinformation about UNICEF enumerators:
“We call on citizens, as well as influencers, not to spread disinformation and to refrain from posting photographs of prominent activists and enumerators, as this can provoke unfounded attacks,” they said in a statement.
They added that one of the enumerators is also their peer educator and a former youth adviser to the Ombudsman.
“We believe it is neither correct nor humane to cause harm to such individuals via social networks, especially in a way that fuels discrimination against children based on skin color or any other difference. Once again, we appeal to all citizens not to spread hate speech or religious, national, or ethnic intolerance,” said the NGOs “Sistem” and the “Roma Council.”
The influencers thus “covered their ears,” but offered no apology for what they themselves had initiated. The only thing they offered was lamentation about how the system does not work, and how they had, supposedly, taken it upon themselves to warn and advise – but would do so no more, having been burned by their own falsehood.
Parents were left worried, with a multitude of questions about their children’s safety.
Those who suffered most were people whom life, for one reason or another, brought to Montenegro and who today are de facto our neighbors. Yet from all of the above, it is clear that they neither kidnapped nor shaved children in shopping malls, nor independently registered them on the outskirts of the capital.
