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Creepy new TikTok accounts have young people fearing for their safety: 'This is actually so scary'

Reports that a group of alleged kidnappers known as "The Dave Team" is using TikTok information to track users have flooded the social media platform — but they're not real.

Members of the team all use the same photo of a woman as their profile picture and feature the same link in their TikTok bio. Many have strange usernames with long strings of numbers or letters.

Users typically notice them because they follow tons of accounts and like lots of comments across many videos. The accounts behave, essentially, like bots — but internet lore has turned them into something much more sinister.

TikTok user @x...randomnesssss...x shared the most viral video containing allegations about The Dave Team, claiming that if you view a member's profile, they will be able to track you down.

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"They are more serious than you may think so remember to block them if you tap on them," the user wrote in a video with more than 2.2 million views. "If you already tapped on one please make sure your safe and always check your surroundings."

Some commenters were horrified.

"This would've been helpful five hours ago," one user wrote.

"Bro this is actually so scary," another said.

Others were skeptical.

"They definitely can't kidnap everyone on TikTok," one user wrote.

"I feel special they would travel around the world just to kidnap me," another said.

"Y'all will believe anything," a third remarked. "Just don't click on any sketchy links and you'll be good."

There have never been reports of TikTok users being able to find each other's exact locations by simply viewing their profiles, so it's more than likely this is a viral hoax with roots in creepypasta.

There's also seemingly no reason behind the name "The Dave Team," so it's possible one of these accounts made up the kidnapping hoax to gain more views and it spread across the site from there.

You can still report the creepy accounts, though, as bot behavior is strictly prohibited on TikTok.

To do so, go to the user's profile, click on the three dots in the top righthand corner, press the icon that says "report," select "report account" and then choose a reason.

Whatever you do, though, don't click on any links you find on any of their pages — which is a pretty good rule for any random links you find on social media and beyond.

The best party games to keep you and your friends entertained for hours:

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If you found this story interesting, read more about the mysterious Peachy Bella TikTok account.

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