hoaxes

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Police Say AI Hoax Behind Monkey Reports in Newark

No roaming primates were found in Jersey city, as authorities blame viral AI images

(Newser) - Police in Newark, New Jersey, say reports of monkeys roaming city streets this week appear to be a hoax fueled by AI-generated images. Officers responded to calls about loose monkeys at the Georgia King Village apartment complex on Thursday morning, following similar reports the day before, reports PIX11 . One image...

DOJ Says LA Woman Invented ICE Abduction

Feds say Yuriana Calderon, 41, made up story of being kidnapped by federal agents to raise money

(Newser) - A Los Angeles woman is being accused by the federal government of staging her own kidnapping and blaming it on ICE to try to profit off her claims. Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon, 41, has been charged with conspiracy and making false statements to federal officials, with a criminal complaint citing...

Jussie Smollett Stunner: Court Overturns Conviction

Illinois Supreme Court rules in case of actor's alleged hoax attack in 2019

(Newser) - A big surprise in the case of actor Jussie Smollett : The Illinois Supreme Court has overturned his conviction on allegations that he staged a racist and homophobic attack against himself in downtown Chicago in 2019, per the AP . The Chicago Sun-Times calls it a "blockbuster" decision "that will...

Russia Blamed for Polling Place Bomb Hoaxes

'They're up to mischief, it seems,' says Georgia's secretary of state

(Newser) - Voting was interrupted at multiple locations Tuesday because of bomb threats the FBI has linked to Russia. "The FBI is aware of bomb threats to polling locations in several states, many of which appear to originate from Russian email domains," the agency said in a statement, per the...

Irked Sheriff Posts 11-Year-Old's Mugshot

Florida's Mike Chitwood is sick of false school-shooting threats

(Newser) - A Florida sheriff fed up with a spate of false school-shooting threats is trying a new tactic to get through to students and their parents: He's posting the mugshot of any offender on social media. Law enforcement officials across the country have seen a wave of school shooting hoaxes...

Utah's Transgender Bathroom Tip Line Doesn't Go as Planned

Instead of legit reports, activists flood it with thousands of hoaxes

(Newser) - Transgender activists have flooded a Utah tip line created to alert state officials to possible violations of a new bathroom law with thousands of hoax reports. As the AP reports, it's an effort to shield trans residents and their allies from any legitimate complaints that could lead to an...

Appeals Court Delivers Its Decision to Jussie Smollett

Illinois judges uphold actor's conviction on hate crime hoax; he'll appeal to state Supreme Court

(Newser) - It's bad news for Jussie Smollett , the former Empire actor who was found guilty in 2021 of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report about an alleged hate crime against him in Chicago. An Illinois appeals court on Friday upheld his conviction, and his five-month jail sentence, after...

TV Anchor Quit for Harvard Job. Then She Noticed 'Anomalies'
TV Anchor Quit for Harvard Job.
Then She Noticed 'Anomalies'
in case you missed it
Jan 23, 2021 3:35 PM CST

TV Anchor Quit for Harvard Job. Then She Noticed 'Anomalies'

Nidhi Razdan of NDTV says she fell victim to a 'sophisticated and coordinated phishing attack'

(Newser) - Nidhi Razdan spent 21 years as the lead anchor of India's NDTV, which one might think would give her the chops to take on a position as an associate professor of journalism at Harvard. In fact, in June she said she was giving up her job to do that...

Trump on Coronavirus: It's Dems' 'New Hoax'

Claims Democrats are 'politicizing' contagious disease, says administration is 'totally prepared'

(Newser) - As the coronavirus continues to infiltrate countries around the world, President Trump is knocking Democrats in the US for "politicizing" the contagious disease. NBC News reports that Trump made his remarks at a campaign rally in North Charleston, SC, Friday evening as he continued to minimize the risk of...

Well-Known Columnist Apparently Got 'Swatted'

Someone called cops, told them Leonard Pitts Jr.'s wife was being murdered in their home

(Newser) - "It was an interesting way to start the morning," says columnist Leonard Pitts Jr., and that may be just a bit of an understatement. After someone made a hoax call to police reporting that the wife of the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist was being murdered inside their Bowie, Md....

Here's What Not to Fall For on April Fools' Day

Trust us

(Newser) - Don't believe everything you read on the Internet—but especially not on April 1. April Fools' Day is the perfect, albeit well-worn, opportunity to post on Facebook that you're pregnant or to inform your significant other that you just won the lottery. But if you'd rather read...

Camping: Oh, Wait. Rapture Is Actually Oct. 21

Rest assured, the earth will still be consumed by a fireball

(Newser) - Harold Camping's new favorite phrase: Better late than never. The California preacher has an easy explanation for why the rapture never came to pass on Saturday: He was five months off. Doh! The actual rapture will be Oct. 21. He had originally said that was the day on which...

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...

Pakistan Feared Indian Air Strikes

India was preparing to hits areas identified as militant camps, says official

(Newser) - Pakistan feared a retaliatory attack by India after the Mumbai terrorist siege, a Pakistani official told the BBC. Evidence indicated that India was planning an air raid on suspected militant training camps, he said. Despite worries that India planned "to teach Pakistan a lesson, we wouldn't have gone—and...

Obama Camp: $30K Ring for Michelle Is Bogus
Obama Camp: $30K Ring
for Michelle Is Bogus
UPDATED
Dec 2, 2008 1:36 PM CST

Obama Camp: $30K Ring for Michelle Is Bogus

Reports of thank-you bling from president-elect greatly exaggerated

(Newser) - Reports earlier today that Barack Obama is spending $30,000 on a thank-you ring for wife Michelle are false, the president-elect’s camp tells Politico. Britain’s Daily Mail quoted a spokesman for Italian jeweler Giovanni Bosco as saying Obama had contacted the company about getting the bling in time...

LA Times Apologizes for Diddy-Tupac Story

Paper admits it was based on fake FBI documents from con man

(Newser) - The Los Angeles Times today admitted the paper was duped in its story alleging that Sean "Diddy" Combs was connected to the 1994 murder of fellow rapper Tupac Shakur. The reporter and editor responsible for the story apologized and said parts of it were based on FBI records that...

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