Gardai are urging people not to share fake warnings of kidnappers on social media or in WhatsApp groups.
It's after the photo of a foreign man, wrongly accused of being in a child abduction gang, was shared more than 2,000 times on Facebook.
It's claimed a group from Albania has made suspicious approaches in Dublin 6, 8 and 12 but Gardai say they are not investigating anything of this nature.
Some of the Facebook pages sharing the image are so called paedophile hunters who stage sting operations to bait suspected child abusers.
Detectives are urging people not to share photos of people which cannot be verified and to instead contact a member of An Garda Siochana with any concerns they have.
