hoax

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5 Ways to Avoid Becoming an April Fool

First and most importantly, be aware of the date

(Newser) - Welcome to April 1, “the day when every office jokester and petty prankster thinks up some gags at your expense that they think will be hilarious,” writes Brian Moylan on Gawker . “Well, not this year, jackass.” Moylan offers a foolproof five-step plan to make yourself, well,...

Man Tried ACORN 'Sting' on Planned Parenthood

It didn't work, and the FBI is investigating

(Newser) - The FBI is looking for a man suspected of trying to incriminate Planned Parenthood in a scam that resembles the hidden-camera sting that took down ACORN , reports TPM Muckraker . Eight clinics across five states had similar experiences over a single week: a young man came in looking for treatment for...

Justin Bieber Caught in Ground Zero Mosque Hoax

Foes launch boycott over fake interview

(Newser) - These things happen when you're a teen idol in the Internet age: After the satirical site Celebjihad ran a fake story saying Justin Bieber thinks those opposed to a Ground Zero mosque are bigots, the tale began spreading like wild on the web. Foes started a boycott Bieber page on...

TV Meteorologist Charged With Faking Rape Report

Police say Heidi Jones made up Central Park attack

(Newser) - New York City weather girl Heidi Jones has been arrested on charges that she made up a rape she reported to police. Jones, an occasional Good Morning America fill-in, told police on Nov. 24 that a pair of Hispanic men had jumped and raped her while she was jogging through...

Facebook Hoax Warns of 'Christmas Tree' Virus

Supposedly malicious bug has yet to surface

(Newser) - A message circulating widely on Facebook that warns of a virus called "Christmas Tree" appears to be a fake, Mashable reports. "Of course, with the message spreading as quickly as it is, it wouldn’t surprise us if someone actually created a malicious app bearing that or a...

Video of Man in Bear Suit Sparks Singapore Bear Hunt

Electronics giant Philips may face charges over viral marketing stunt

(Newser) - Electronics giant Philips has apologized for sending police, zoo officials, and wildlife groups in Singapore on a wild bear chase. Dozens of people searched an area of the city-state after a hoax video supposedly showing a bear rummaging through a garbage can surfaced on social media. The company says the...

Police Suspect Hoax in Airline Bomb Scare

Canadian woman phoned in tip about male passenger

(Newser) - The bomb scare that required a Pakistani passenger jet with 273 people aboard to make an emergency landing in Stockholm was apparently a hoax. Authorities diverted the plane, which took off from Toronto, after getting a tip that a man aboard had explosives. He turned out to be clean and...

Letterman Was In On Phoenix Hoax

Old interview with writer reveals it

(Newser) - Casey Affleck says that absolutely no one was in on Joaquin Phoenix's hoax except for the actor, his agents, and Affleck himself. But that might not be the case. In an interview with a small independent newspaper last year, one of David Letterman's writers said that Phoenix's strange mumbling interview...

Hollywood Will Punish Affleck, Phoenix
 Hollywood Will Punish 
 Affleck, Phoenix 
OPINION
Sep 17, 2010 10:38 AM CDT

Hollywood Will Punish Affleck, Phoenix

Letterman sure to have a heyday when Joaquin returns

(Newser) - Hollywood is not happy with Casey Affleck . He and Joaquin Phoenix “will have a lot of explaining to do in the coming days,” writes Patrick Goldstein in the Los Angeles Times . Affleck finally admitted his Phoenix “documentary” was actually a hoax (not that he himself would use...

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...

Massachusetts 'Shark' a Hoax
 Massachusetts 'Shark' a Hoax 
Aug 26, 2010 3:20 PM CDT

Massachusetts 'Shark' a Hoax

Joker makes a fin with styrofoam, duct tape

(Newser) - About 50 people watched a shark in a cove that runs between two Massachusetts towns—until they realized they were the victims of a practical joke, the Herald News reports. The first 911 call came in about 7pm last night, attracting police and a large group of onlookers. And no...

NY-Bound Flight Grounded After Hijack Scare

Threatening call deemed 'non-credible'

(Newser) - American Airlines Flight 24 from San Francisco to New York was grounded last night after a caller threatened to hijack the plane. Authorities now say the threat was "non-credible," though the "suspicious male" behind the scare has not been identified, notes CNN . After the call, the plane...

Bill Cosby: I'm Not Dead

 Bill Cosby: 
 I'm Not Dead 



Aug 2, 2010 6:47 PM CDT

Bill Cosby: I'm Not Dead

Twitter tries and fails to take down another celebrity

(Newser) - Bill Cosby is not dead, despite what you might have read on the Internet this afternoon. In fact, the 73-year-old comedy legend is alive, well, and making up words on Twitter, reports WPIX . Using a term he created after a similar false alarm in February, he tweeted today, "Again,...

Text Message Frame-Up Lands Woman in Jail

'Victim' blames ex for threats, gets 1-year sentence

(Newser) - It turns out, you can go to jail for threatening yourself—just call the cops and try to pin it on your ex-boyfriend and his sister-in-law. Jeanne Manunga, a 25-year-old California woman, has been sentenced to a year in jail for sending herself threatening text messages from a prepaid cell...

Yo-Yo 'Whiz' Punks TV Stations
 Yo-Yo 'Whiz' Punks TV Stations 
May 10, 2010 7:00 PM CDT

Yo-Yo 'Whiz' Punks TV Stations

Kenny Strasser talks his way onto Midwestern morning shows

(Newser) - If someone calling himself Kenny Strasser turns up on your local TV station's happy-talk morning news, pay attention: His yo-yo routine is about to fall to pieces. "K-Strass" punked four Wisconsin stations before taking his show to Missouri, where "he did some really lame things" on the air,...

'Osama bin Laden' Kicked Off Facebook

Fake terrorist leader gave location as 'mountains of the world'

(Newser) - Facebook has shut down a month-old page purporting to be the online presence of Osama bin Laden. "There is no evidence to suggest that the account in question or the other dozens of people who have tried to present themselves as Osama Bin Laden have any relation to the...

New York Times Falls for April Fools Pranks

Blogger, tech site both manage to punk the paper

(Newser) - The New York Times got punked—twice!—on April Fools’ Day, and the World Wide Web is having quite a laugh about it. First, the paper fell for a New York personal injury attorney who claimed to have been appointed “official White House law blogger,” going so...

12 Legendary April Fool's Pranks
 12 Legendary 
 April Fool's Pranks 
a whopper for lefties?
Apr 1, 2010 11:38 AM CDT

12 Legendary April Fool's Pranks

Big Ben going digital? Switzerland harvesting spaghetti?

(Newser) - As you prepare whatever April Fools' Day prank you have in mind for your loved ones, take a look back at 12 classic jokes, courtesy of the Daily Beast :
  • Swiss spaghetti harvest: In 1957, the BBC aired a serious-sounding report on Switzerland’s bumper crop of pasta; hundreds fell for
...

Prankster Dupes MSNBC as Fake USA Goalie

Posing as Ryan Miller, he guarantees a gold medal on air

(Newser) - A prankster posing as Team USA hockey goalie Ryan Miller got on the air yesterday on MSNBC and guaranteed a win tomorrow against Canada. The network's Willie Geist had to come back hours later to apologize and speak to the real Ryan Miller. The hoax follows another this week on...

CNN Duped by 140-Year-Old Hot Dog

Relic stunt was in tradition of 'Coney Island ballyhoo,' historians say

(Newser) - CNN happily ran a story recently on a 140-year-old hot dog and bun discovered intact, encased in ice, during demolition of the restaurant where the first hot dog was supposedly made. But the news network apparently forgetting that not everything is as it seems on Coney Island. The “1st...

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