by an Amber Alert on their phones

saying a 16-year-old had been kidnapped in the Bronx.

And although this was a scary story for a while,

it turns out there was no actual kidnapping.

But what did happen was way more insane.

What appeared to have been a violent kidnapping

is over tonight.

A teenage girl here in New York is safe

after she was grabbed by two men.

It sparked an Amber Alert,

but was it all a hoax?

NEWSWOMAN: Two men jump out of a car in the Bronx

and grab a 16-year-old

as she walked down the sidewalk next to her mother.

NEWSWOMAN 2: Well, after a frantic day of searching,

the girl admitted she staged her own abduction

to run away from her family.

She told detectives that her mother was too protective.

The two had reportedly argued about a plan

to leave the United States for Honduras.

NEWSWOMAN: A mother's worst nightmare is over

while there's a chance her daughter's legal troubles

are only just beginning.

Wow. There was an Amber Alert,

but now she's saying she faked her own kidnapping.

Whatever you do, please do not try this

if you have African parents.

Yeah. Because you'll be like, "I faked my kidnapping."

And they'll be like, "But your funeral will be real, huh?"

(laughter)

Now, the reason this blew up online

is because there are real cases of sex trafficking

and people are worried that this kind of story

would undermine some of those stories, you know?

Not to mention a fake kidnapping will really confuse Liam Neeson.

You know? Yeah, 'cause every time he gets a call,

from now on, he's gonna be like,

"I have a particular set of skills,

"skills that I will use to...

"Wait, is this... Is this a real one this time?

"Is this my daughter putting me on speakerphone

at a slumber party? I'm gonna be so pissed."

And, by the way, uh, you know what I don't understand?

Whenever someone goes missing, we all get an Amber Alert.

But how come we don't get another alert

when the person is found, huh?

'Cause now some of us are still on the streets looking, huh?

Just, like, running around like, "Aha! Green Honda Civic.

Caught you!"

Person's like, "What? That girl came back the same day."

"Oh, well, uh, fix that taillight.

Get out of here."

Here's what should happen. I think if someone's kidnapped,

we should all get an Amber Alert.

And if they find out it's a hoax,

we should all get a Jussie Smollett Alert, okay?