A story circulating on Facebook about an alleged carjacking and assault at the south county Target appears to be false, police say.

The St. Louis County Police Department could not find any record of an incident similar to the one described in a post that has spread across south county Facebook groups and pages in the last several days.

The Facebook post appears to be the latest example of false information spread through social media, police said.

“We have been asked by several local media outlets and we cannot find anything,” Sgt. Shawn McGuire told the Call. “I think this is an example of social media at its finest.”

The writer of the detailed post claimed that the incident happened to an unnamed female friend, who allegedly had two men come up to her car in the parking lot of the Target, 4250 Rusty Road, to try to carjack her car on Saturday.

When the men couldn’t get in because the woman’s doors were locked, the poster writes that the men ran over to another woman on a scooter, knocked her over, stole her purse and merchandise and ran away on foot, then sped away in a black car that might have been a Dodge Charger. The friend allegedly rode with the other victim to the hospital, where the scooter rider received treatment for a broken arm and collarbone.

“Please pass the word that when you get into your car (regardless of where it is … safe place or not) always lock your doors as soon as you enter the car,” the post concluded. “It could keep you from being carjacked.”

While no such incident actually happened at Target or elsewhere in south county, the false post does incorporate elements of actual recent incidents in south county. Two men tried to carjack two women in their cars at the Crestwood Kohl’s store in November, and a black Dodge Challenger was carjacked from the Sunset Hills Toys “R” Us parking lot in December.

But none of the incidents have happened at the south county Target, police said.

It was unclear who originally wrote the post since every public posting of it starts out with “Sharing this from a friend …” or a note that the poster saw it in a south county Facebook group.