hoax – News Stories About hoax - Page 8

HuffPo Blogger
Unmasked as
Fake Rothschild

Feb 2, 2010 3:13 AM CST

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...

Free Haiti Flights Turn Out
To Be Twitter Hoax

Jan 14, 2010 2:10 PM CST

Free Haiti Flights Turn Out To Be Twitter Hoax

Tweeters also spread rumor of free UPS shipping

(Newser) - If you believe Twitter, then a lot of big-hearted corporations are doing great things for victims of the Haiti quake: American Airlines and Jet Blue are both flying doctors and nurses to Haiti for free, and UPS is offering free shipping on any package to Haiti under 50 pounds. Also,...

TMZ's JFK Pic a Hoax

Dec 28, 2009 4:53 PM CST

TMZ's JFK Pic a Hoax

Photo from Playboy, 'Kennedy' a model

(Newser) - A photo touted by TMZ as a candid snapshot of John Kennedy partying on a boat with topless women has been revealed as a fake. The photo is plenty real—it appears in a 1967 Playboy spread alongside a story entitled "Charter Yacht Party: How to Have a Ball...

Scam Emails Capitalize on Swine Flu Scare

h1n1 outbreak

Dec 4, 2009 2:40 PM CST

Scam Emails Capitalize on Swine Flu Scare

Phishing scheme asks targets to register for vaccination

(Newser) - Bogus email alert: Be on the lookout for messages allegedly from the CDC about a "mandatory" swine flu vaccination program. The emails ask recipients to enter personal information in order to get vaccinated, but unlucky registrants get malware instead of medicine. The CDC has confirmed that it is not...

Mobile Firm's
Meteor Stunt
Backfires

Oct 28, 2009 4:42 AM CDT

Mobile Firm's Meteor Stunt Backfires

Hoaxed Latvians plan to cancel Swedish company's contracts

(Newser) - A Swedish mobile phone company has dug itself into a crater with a marketing stunt involving a fake meteorite. Tele2 dug a hole in a meadow in Latvia and placed burning chemicals in the bottom to simulate a meteor strike, making headlines worldwide and fooling emergency services into cordoning off...

Thanks for the Ride, Falcon

Brandon Keim

Oct 23, 2009 1:52 PM CDT

Thanks for the Ride, Falcon

(Newser) - Just about everyone seems to hate Richard Heene, but the emotion just proves how powerfully the balloon boy hoax gripped our collective imagination. “Had Richard called 911 and reported that he’d last seen his son near a Greyhound bus station, almost nobody would have cared,” writes Brandon...

Kanye Lives! And So Do
These Other Hoaxed Celebs

Oct 22, 2009 4:26 AM CDT

Kanye Lives! And So Do These Other Hoaxed Celebs

Fake rumors of celebrity death from Kanye West to Frank Sinatra

(Newser) - We're happy for you Kanye, but Paul McCartney's may have been the best celebrity death hoax of all time. An elaborate Internet hoax fooled many into thinking Kanye West had been killed in a car crash yesterday, prompting the Los Angeles Times to look at other celebs who fell victim...

Balloon Boy
Another Blow
to Trust

OPINION

Oct 22, 2009 3:35 AM CDT

Balloon Boy Another Blow to Trust

Politicians are the ones most lost in forest of fakery

(Newser) - The Falcon Heene fiasco sums up the dilemma facing a society riddled with fake news, Photoshop fakes, and even fake Rush Limbaugh quotes, writes Daniel Henninger. "Reality TV" is the perfect metaphor for a world where you need to routinely "ask yourself whether what's in front of you...

Balloon Family Feels
'Under Siege': Lawyer

Oct 19, 2009 4:56 PM CDT

Balloon Family Feels 'Under Siege': Lawyer

Lawyer says stunt has turned into a "nightmare for the family."

(Newser) - Richard and Mayumi Heene are likely regretting the hoax they staged using their 6-year-old son and a balloon: With criminal charges looming and public opinion turning against them, the family feels “under siege,” their lawyer said today. The FAA has opened an investigation into the incident; it has...

How I Helped Plan
the Balloon Boy Hoax

first person

Oct 18, 2009 3:12 PM CDT

How I Helped Plan the Balloon Boy Hoax

Scheme was a campaign to return to reality TV: researcher

(Newser) - Balloon boy Falcon Heene's father, Richard, planned the hoax because he wanted to return to reality TV, claims a former research assistant. Heene "was often driven by ego and fame," Robert Thomas says in an interview with Gawker, which the website acknowledges it paid him for. "...

Balloon Boy
Throws Up
on Today,
GMA, as Dad
Denies Hoax

WATCH IT

Oct 16, 2009 8:38 AM CDT

Balloon Boy Throws Up on Today, GMA, as Dad Denies Hoax

Falcon Heene vomits twice on-air during morning show rounds

(Newser) - The Heene family made the morning show rounds today, denying that the “Balloon Boy” saga and search for assumed-missing son Falcon was a publicity stunt. “I went through such a rollercoaster of emotions yesterday, to have people say that, I think is extremely pathetic,” dad Richard told...

Was Balloon Boy Stunt a Hoax?

UPDATED

Oct 16, 2009 6:40 AM CDT

Was Balloon Boy Stunt a Hoax?

Falcon Heene tells CNN 'we did this for the show'

(Newser) - An apparent "slip" by Falcon Heene has fueled frenzied internet speculation that yesterday's balloon hoohah was a publicity stunt orchestrated by his family. When his dad asked him during a CNN interview with the family why the 6-year-old didn't come out of the attic when people were calling his...

Jim Morrison
Is Not in This Photo

OPINION

Oct 13, 2009 6:27 PM CDT

Jim Morrison Is Not in This Photo

Chalk up ghostly image to wishful thinking

(Newser) - Jim Morrison is still dead. Repeat: Still dead. Unfortunately, and just in time for Halloween, researchers in a new book assert that an old photo taken of a visitor to Morrison's grave does indeed show the singer's ghostly image rising, complains Lou Carlozo. These supposed experts rule out weird lighting...

Underwater Billboards?
They're Suspicious in Seattle

Sep 18, 2009 9:30 PM CDT

Underwater Billboards? They're Suspicious in Seattle

Seafood standby heavily promoting 'recently' discovered underwater ad campaign

(Newser) - After unearthing plans laid long ago by its founder, a legendary Seattle seafood restaurant is pulling underwater advertising billboards out of Puget Sound—though Ivar’s accompanying advertising blitz and founder Ivar Haglund’s notorious record of self-promotion have residents smelling something fishy, the Times reports. “If I was...

Hoaxsters Get German Media to Report Fake Attack on US

Sep 12, 2009 1:42 PM CDT

Hoaxsters Get German Media to Report Fake Attack on US

Fake city of Bluewater California supposedly attacked by rappers

(Newser) - A group of Internet-savvy hoaxers had all of Deutschland believing that a group of German rappers had attempted a suicide bombing in a California Thursday, Wired reports. The DPA—Germany’s version of the AP—ran a story with the headline “Attack in Small California Town,” reporting that...

Dutch Museum's 'Moon Rock' an Out-of-This-World Fake

Aug 28, 2009 3:10 PM CDT

Dutch Museum's 'Moon Rock' an Out-of-This-World Fake

Gift from NASA is just petrified wood, tests reveal

(Newser) - A “moon rock” exhibited at the Dutch national museum is actually petrified wood, the BBC reports. The three Apollo 11 astronauts gave the object to former PM Willem Drees on a tour following their 1969 moon mission; NASA shared similar artifacts with more than 100 other countries. The purported...

Gawker Catches HuffPo
Falling for Hoax

OPINION

Jul 22, 2009 7:51 AM CDT

Gawker Catches HuffPo Falling for Hoax

Arianna must be thrilled, Gawker blogger muses

(Newser) - An airport in Central Park? Sounds ridiculous, but the Huffington Post fell for it yesterday—much to the delight and amusement of Gawker. HuffPo ran a satirical story on its homepage last night (caught in a screenshot by Gawker before it was removed) with what appeared to be a straight...

Moon-Landing Denier
Exposed as a Cheat

Jul 21, 2009 6:44 AM CDT

Moon-Landing Denier Exposed as a Cheat

Buzz Aldrin punched out man who claimed landings were faked

(Newser) - A filmmaker who persistently claims the moon landings were a hoax is beginning to look like a hoaxer himself, the Examiner reports. Bart Sibrel has produced documentaries labeling the Apollo landing a fake, but a new video has surfaced proving he deliberately mismatched NASA's audio and video footage to mislead...

Britney, Ellen Alive but Hacked

GOSSIP ROUNDUP

Jun 29, 2009 12:37 PM CDT

Britney, Ellen Alive but Hacked

Also: Is Megan Fox dating co-star?

(Newser) - Never fear: Britney Spears is alive. A post from her Twitter account claiming she had died is false, the AP reports, a result of the hacking of her Twitpic account. Ellen DeGeneres’ account with Twitpic—a program not owned by Twitter—was also hacked. Elsewhere:

Rumors continue to fly

...

Sony Armageddon
Hoax in Crashing
Bad Taste

OPINION

Jun 15, 2009 2:07 AM CDT

Sony Armageddon Hoax in Crashing Bad Taste

World will end in 2012: Sony site

(Newser) - The latest Armageddon hoax has a marketing spin that LiveScience's Robert Roy Britt describes as a "sick twist." Sony Pictures went to elaborate lengths to disguise its movie plug on the "Institute for Human Continuity" website, which warns of "cataclysmic events that will devastate our planet"...