Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: Internet hoax

Internet hoax stories: 8 news summaries
TWITTER HOAX DEPT.

 No, Zach Braff Is Not Dead 

Publicist denies Twitter-spread 'report' that actor had committed suicide

Oct 12, 09 7:24 PM CDT
(Newser) - From the don’t-believe-everything-you-see-on-Twitter department: Actor Zach Braff is in fact not dead, despite a fast-spreading rumor to the contrary. “He’s alive. It’s just another hoax,” an ABC rep says tonight of the Scrubs star, 34. Earlier in the day, Twitter was humming over a link... More »

MORE ABOUT:
entertainment • ABC • Internet hoax • Scrubs • Zach Braff • Twitter • celebrity suicide

(Newser) - The recent rash of earthquakes at Yellowstone National Park has geologists intrigued but unworried; that’s not the case with online doomsayers who think the park's volcano is getting ready to blow, the AP reports. About 900 quakes, most undetectable by humans, hit in the week following Christmas. “Something... More »

MORE ABOUT:
evacuation • natural disaster • Yellowstone • volcano • Internet hoax • earthquake • United States Geological Survey

McCain 'Insider' Who Leaked Palin Dirt a Fake

Tale of would-be VP not knowing Africa's a continent fooled media

Nov 13, 08 9:43 AM CST
(Newser) - MSNBC thought it had a scoop: On Monday, it identified "Martin Eisenstadt, a McCain policy adviser" as the man who claimed Sarah Palin didn't know Africa was a continent. Only trouble? Martin Eisenstadt doesn't exist—he's a character in an elaborate, months-long hoax that has taken in news... More »

MORE ABOUT:
MSNBC • hoax • Internet hoax • Sarah Palin • Martin Eisenstadt • cable news

Subway's Jared: Alive, Thank You

Now-svelte sandwich pitchman is the victim of an Internet hoax

Jun 27, 08 9:24 AM CDT
(Newser) - Reports of the demise of Subway pitchman Jared are greatly exaggerated, a company rep said yesterday in response to an Internet hoax spread via Twitter posts. "Jared sounded very much alive when I talked to him today," a spokesman told Radar. The fast-spreading rumor claimed Fogle, 30, died... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Subway • Internet hoax • Twitter • Jared Fogle

Woman Indicted in MySpace Suicide Case

Under fake persona, she teased girl who then killed herself

May 15, 08 3:39 PM CDT
(Newser) - A Missouri woman has been indicted in the case of a teenage girl who killed herself after receiving cruel messages on MySpace, the AP reports. The woman, Lori Drew, is charged with pretending to be a teenage boy on the site and having a helper taunt the 13-year-old victim. Drew... More »

MORE ABOUT:
suicide • MySpace • fraud • Missouri • indictment • federal indictment • Internet hoax • Megan Meier • Lori Drew

GoogleTV Heads List of Best New Internet Hoaxes

Glowing Mountain Dew, UFOs also make list

Feb 14, 08 2:46 PM CST
(Newser) - The Internet probably doesn’t need more false information, but some of the recent hoaxes have been so good that ComputerWorld had to recognize them. Here’s their list of best new tomfoolery:
  • GoogleTV made thousands log into GMail over and over and over.
  • Many thought the UFO
... More »

MORE ABOUT:
YouTube • list • Internet hoax • Metalosis Maligna • Fake Steve Jobs • Czech nuclear bomb • glowing Mountain Dew • UFO Haiti • GoogleTV

Facebook Hoaxer Part of Plot to Smear Bilawal: Dad

Heir loves vampire slayer Buffy on fake site

Jan 3, 08 5:41 AM CST
(Newser) - Several news editors and internet surfers fell hook, line and sinker for a Facebook hoaxer pretending to be Benazir Bhutto's son and political heir—and an aide for his dad charged that it was part of a smear campaign by the Pakistani government. The fake Facebook site has 19-year-old Bilawal... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Pakistan • Facebook • Benazir Bhutto • Pakistan People's Party • Internet hoax • Bilawal Bhutto Zardari

Anger Brews Over Cyber Suicide

Hoaxers who drove teen to kill herself untouched by law

Nov 17, 07 4:00 PM CST
(Newser) - Police fear a "mob mentality" is brewing in a St. Louis suburb after a 13-year-old girl killed herself, and the hoaxers who allegedly prodded her have gone free. Two adults—parents of the girl's friend—badgered Megan Meier online until she hanged herself in her closet last October. Cops... More »

MORE ABOUT:
suicide • MySpace • St. Louis • Missouri • cyberbullying • Dardenne Prairie • Internet hoax

8 Stories


from our news partners

Associated PressAssociated Press