‘They Shouted That We Had Stolen Someone’s Genitals’: How a Deadly Rumor Spread Across Africa

More than 80 people were killed from October 2025 through July in mob attacks connected to a false accusation that has resurfaced across Africa for years: the claim that a stranger can “steal” a man’s genitals with a tap on the shoulder. The figure was compiled by the BBC Global Disinformation Unit from police records across six countries. In videos verified by the BBC, suspects are surrounded, beaten and sometimes set on fire as crowds demand the return of organs that medical officials say were never taken.

A rumor with old roots

The latest wave appears to have started in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where similar claims were documented in 2008. It then spread to Burundi, Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Angola, Malawi and Kenya.

Such claims are rooted in longstanding fears and traditional beliefs in witchcraft, which remain common in many communities. Earlier outbreaks tended to stay local. The current one has been pushed across borders by social media posts that mix genuine panic, real footage of attacks and unverified warnings presented as news.

In videos examined by the BBC, men say their penis and testicles have shrunk or disappeared after contact with strangers. Crowds then demand that alleged perpetrators “return” what they supposedly took. Those demands are often followed by violence.

One day in Tunduma

At his home in Mpemba, near the Tanzanian border town of Tunduma, mechanic Boniface Mgala traces a sickle-shaped scar running down the right side of his head. He and a friend had gone into Tunduma on April 1 to meet a client about a car sale and decided to eat lunch first. They had barely sat down when a crowd dragged them outside.

“They were shouting that we had stolen someone’s genitals, and we didn’t have any way to escape because there was a huge crowd,” Mgala told the BBC.

He was beaten unconscious and woke up in a hospital two days later. His friend had been killed. Mgala now walks with a limp, suffers from constant headaches and has not been able to return to his mechanic shop. Neighbors and friends have helped cover the cost of some of his medicine.

“If I had known how close I would have come to death on that day, I wouldn’t have gone into that restaurant to eat,” he said. “Only we don’t know how close death is.”

The same day, commercial photographer and businessman Michael Silavwe, 23, was in Tunduma when another man was accused nearby. He saw a crowd running past his shop and learned that the man was being beaten. By the time police arrived, the man had been set on fire.

“After they set him on fire, the police arrived at the scene and everyone scattered and ran away,” Silavwe said.

The BBC verified video of the attack, which had been viewed more than 100,000 times across TikTok and Facebook. In the footage, a crowd is seen beating a man while demanding he return a victim’s allegedly stolen genitals.

Another verified video recorded in Tanzania’s largest city, Dar es Salaam, shows a crowd marching a man through a dusty market street, pushing, grabbing and striking him as he pleads his innocence. Similar footage was verified in Mozambique and Kenya.

False but still frightening

In Tunduma, 50-year-old tailor and fashion designer Asha Steven Mwakilasa says she came to realize the claims were not true. That has not ended her unease, especially when her husband or sons leave the house.

Momba district commissioner Elias Daniel Mwandobo said local investigations suggested some incidents were deliberately manufactured. “Individuals conspired to commit a crime and incite public panic for their own benefits,” he said.

Police in the area have since stepped up patrols, residents said.

The social media accelerant

Dozens of videos, warnings and alleged first-person accounts remain online, circulating across TikTok and Facebook. Some accounts encourage viewers to stay vigilant; others promote charms supposedly able to protect against genital theft. A few comedians have turned the claims into parody skits.

Julien Bonhomme, author of The Sex Thieves: The Anthropology of a Rumor, said smartphones and social media have made the rumor harder to contain.

“Smartphones and social media make rumors spread faster, reach larger audiences and become more difficult to control once they begin circulating,” Bonhomme said. He added that video gives unverified claims a new kind of credibility because people are not just hearing about an attack — they are watching distressed men describe it, or seeing crowds respond in real time.

A Meta spokesperson said the company was reviewing content shared by the BBC and would act where policies were violated. TikTok did not respond to a request for comment.

Mozambique was hit hardest

Mozambique recorded the most deaths. Police said in May that 55 people had been killed in six weeks, including a police officer, health workers and civil servants. President Daniel Chapo publicly condemned the claims as false, saying the government had found no medical evidence that anyone had lost a part of their body.

Several of the attacks happened in Cabo Delgado, a northern province already strained by displacement linked to a yearslong Islamist insurgency. Two health workers were attacked at their home and workplace in April, forcing local health facilities to close for weeks while authorities ran public awareness campaigns.

As part of that response, the government said some of the panic could be linked to Koro syndrome, a mental health condition sometimes described as genital retraction hysteria.

By July, mob violence had moved to Kenya’s coast, where five people were killed in Kwale and Mombasa counties. County Commissioner Mohamed Noor blamed some content creators for amplifying the claims simply to drive engagement. Several arrests followed, including a father and son sentenced to a year in prison for assaulting a woman they accused of making men’s genitals disappear.

In Malawi, eight people were killed in similar attacks.

Back in Tunduma, Mgala said the physical wounds have begun to heal, but the loss of his friend still feels senseless.

“It still hurts me deeply when I think back to the senseless manner my friend died,” he said. “To suddenly find yourself being pelted with stones for no reason, and then end up losing your life?”

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