Update: Traffic Police has since responded with the following statement: "The Police are aware of a false text message circulating which claimed that the Traffic Police (TP) conduct enforcement using taxis. The Police would like to clarify that the information is not true. Members of the public are advised not to spread such unsubstantiated information."

From being fined for leaving tissue paper in cups to random strangers showing up at the door asking for your kids, we now have a new one from the WhatsApp rumour mill.

The rumour? The Traffic Police are making their rounds in a normal taxi.

You heard that right, and as incredulous as it sounds, it's convincing enough for it to go viral on the messaging platform, and has gained traction on All Singapore Stuff and HardwareZone forums too.

Here are two examples of the message which you might have seen forwarded to your family chats and whatnot:

Traffic Police using this taxi for Highway Petrol. [sic]

On driver side roof top there is Blue Siren.On highway, they will "ON METER" as there will be 2 persons in the car.

They will drive like taxi driver, so that driver on the road will not notice them.

The siren will be put on the roof top only when they spotted Speeding and Careless[sic] driving driver.

There's a good chance that this is, obviously, fake news.

There are just so many questionable elements to this story, aside from the grammar and spelling - for example, who took this photo? Why would the Traffic Police consider such a method to nab errant drivers?

Even if it was legitimate, who managed to find out the exact car the Traffic Police would be "using", anyway?

The plot thickens

According to the FactChecker.sg site, someone in a WhatsApp group chat called Taxi Information Club apparently knew the driver, and said that the driver had allegedly gone to a shipyard and placed a siren on the roof of his car, thus resulting in the photo that was being spread around.

Shipyards? Sirens? The story just got a whole lot more confusing.

We have since reached out to the Traffic Police for comment, and we'll update this article accordingly.

Meanwhile, remind your uncles, aunties, mum and dad that not everything you read on Whatsapp is true - even if it was forwarded by a friend or a "trusted" source.

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