Warning from French Police
“Driving home down a country road one evening I saw a child in a car seat on the roadside, covered with a blanket. I can not explain why, but I did not stop, even though I felt bad about it. When I arrived, I phoned the police who agreed to check it out, but explained that is was likely to be a scam.”
Gangs of thieves are constantly developing new schemes to rob and mug. Some gangs work by finding ways to stop cars (especially women) on quiet roads.
One scenario:
One way is to place a car seat at the roadside, usually near a wood or fields, with a fake baby sitting in it. If a woman stops, she could well be robbed, dragged into the woods, beaten, raped. Men have also been violently beaten, and robbed.
DO NOT STOP UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!
Call 112 as soon as possible, and give details of where and what, BUT DO NOT SLOW DOWN
Another common scenario:
If you are driving at night and eggs are thrown at your windscreen, DO NOT STOP, EVEN IF YOU CANT SEE WELL. Do not turn on your wipers either, as washer fluid or even water will make the windscreen worse when mixed with egg.
I think this is one of those recurring scare stories that actually has no basis in truth. Checking on Snopes, the fact checking site shows this has been doing the rounds since 2009 and shown to be false.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/false-national-gang-week/