online hoax

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Mystery Song's Origin Stumps Online Sleuths

With only 17 seconds of the New Wave song recorded, no one has cracked where it came from

(Newser) - Can you name this tune in 17 seconds? If so, you'd be the hero to a community of online sleuths who've been tracking down its origin for the last two years. Rolling Stone covers the quest to crack the case of "Everyone Knows That," which has...

McDonald's: Our Cashiers Don't Need College Degree

Job post raised eyebrows

(Newser) - If you were outraged to read, as the Washington Examiner reported, that a Massachusetts McDonald's was requiring potential cashiers to have a bachelor's degree, we have good news for you: It's not. A posting on JobDiagnosis initially listed both the degree and one to two years of...

Sorry, Internet: Baby-Snatching Eagle Video Is Phony

But more than one source was duped

(Newser) - If you were completely amazed by that video of a golden eagle snatching a baby in a Montreal park, you weren't alone. Unfortunately, you were also fooled. The vid is almost certainly fake, and Gawker has the details on how you can tell:
  • Red flag No 1: The video
...

Taylor Lautner Gay Cover Fakes Out Net

People says 'exclusive' on actor coming out is just a hoax

(Newser) - A phony People magazine on which Taylor Lautner supposedly comes out of the closet is a fake, but it fooled plenty of people as it spread around the Internet, Gossip Cop reports. "Tired of rumors, the Twilight star opens up about his decision to finally come out,” reads...

McDonald's in Trouble After Racist Sign Hoax

Pic an old online joke, but suddenly resurfaced in recent days

(Newser) - An old online hoax is causing real-world headaches for McDonald's. A fake sign, claiming that McDonald's is charging African-American customers an extra $1.50 as an "insurance measure due in part to a recent string of robberies," first appeared on the Internet's notorious 4chan bulletin...

Woman Pretends to Be 20 People in Cruel Online Hoax

Janna St. James now faces lawsuit

(Newser) - Paula Bonhomme met volunteer firefighter Jesse Jubilee James on an online message board in 2005. Emails and letters led to near-daily phone calls, and in 2006, Bonhomme left her unhappy marriage and planned to move to Colorado to be with James, even though they'd never met face to face....

Hoaxer Convinces Dad His Daughter Died in Tsunami

But Alice Byron is safe, and had evacuated

(Newser) - Ashley Russell found the information on a missing persons website set up for victims of the Japan earthquake and tsunami: His daughter, Alice Byron, was dead. But several hours later, the Australian man learned the truth: Byron was alive, and he had been the victim of an online hoax. The...

Limbaugh Falls for Wikipedia Hoax

Even though, really, he should know better...

(Newser) - Even though Rush Limbaugh once said, "Everybody in the world knows you don't believe anything on Wikipedia," he managed to get himself fooled by, yep, a Wikipedia hoax. Limbaugh, speaking Tuesday about the judge who is presiding over a challenge to the president's health care reform, called him...

HuffPo Blogger Unmasked as Fake Rothschild

'Stefan de Rothschild' is really Brit hoaxer Monty Roberts

(Newser) - Huffington Post editors were thrilled to find blogger Stefan de Rothschild, a wealthy heir whose $2.5 million donation to Haiti made national news. The only problem? None of it was true. Stefan "Monty" Roberts of Britain was unmasked by a group of flinty-eyed Wikipedia editors who noticed his...

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