Updated

Authorities are debunking rumors going around parts of Alaska about Russian mobsters targeting children.

The Anchorage Daily News says the real story is that one or two people from Estonia are selling educational materials door to door with enough information about the children inside to make parents uncomfortable. The sellers started in Fairbanks and are now working in the Mat-Su Valley.

Authorities said there is no criminal gang of Russian-speaking people using school-supply sales as a ruse to steal children.

Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters says the salesmen apparently got the information about the children from other neighbors as they made the rounds.

The rumors started this month and posters appeared warning about strange men showing up at homes with detailed information about the children.