A police investigation is underway after a boy was approached by a man in a white van in Melbourne's east, the fourth incident of its kind around Melbourne in recent weeks
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00:00Police say that while all of these attempted abductions involved men driving white vans,
00:07it's not believed that they're linked, although investigations are continuing.
00:12And in the latest incident, a boy was approached as he was walking along Landscape Drive, which
00:18is over in Boronia.
00:21That's about 29 kilometres east of Melbourne CBD, and that was on Tuesday morning around
00:278.30.
00:29Now while the van pulled over next to him, he was able to get away and notify police.
00:35And just around two weeks earlier, and only 14 kilometres away, this time in Halley Street
00:40in Blackburn, an 11-year-old boy was approached by a man in a white van.
00:46This time, the man said to the boy that he'd been asked by his mum to give him a lift home.
00:51The boy declined the offer and the van drove off.
00:54And there have also been two attempted abductions involving teenage girls.
01:00Now one of them happened only on Monday.
01:03That was over in Saxton Street in Doncaster, involving a 15-year-old girl, and the man
01:10tried to get her inside the van, but she was able to run to a nearby shopping centre.
01:16And just a week ago, over in Spring Street, Tullamarine, which is in Melbourne's north-western
01:22suburbs, a 14-year-old girl was the target of an attempted abduction.
01:27The man also tried to get her inside the van, but she was able to run to a nearby park and
01:34get help.
01:35And this is obviously very worrying, and it's a timely reminder for parents out there to
01:40just once again alert children to stranger danger.
01:45Luckily, none of these children were hurt, but they no doubt were all very frightened
01:51by this experience.
01:53And police say that investigations are continuing, so they'd like to hear from any witnesses
01:59to these attempted abductions, and they're urging them to contact Crime Stoppers.