The following story ran in Money.co.uk on last Friday:

[quote author=“Money.co.uk”]13 Year Old Steals Dad’s Credit Card to Buy Hookers

A 13 year old boy from Texas is convicted of fraud after using his Father’s credit cards to hire escorts. A 13 year old from Texas who stole his Dad’s credit card and ordered two hookers from an escort agency, has today been convicted of fraud and given a three year community order. Ralph Hardy, a 13 year old from Newark, Texas confessed to ordering an extra credit card from his father’s existing credit card company, and took his friends on a $30,000 spending spree, culminating in playing “Halo” on an Xbox with a couple of hookers in a Texas motel. The credit card company involved said it was regular practice to send extra credit cards out as long as all security questions are answered.

The escort girls who were released without charge, told the arresting officers something was up when the kids said they would rather play Xbox than get down to business.

[More here…]

Great story, only World Net Daily says it’s not true:

[quote author=“WDN”]Boy spent $30,000 on hookers with dad’s credit card?

Story claims 13-year-old stole from father to play Xbox with call girls. A 13-year-old Newark, Texas, boy convicted of fraud for hiring two hookers and racking up $30,000 in charges on his father’s credit card? According to an online Money website published in the UK, Ralph Hardy paid prostitutes to spend the evening playing Xbox video games with him and his friends in a Texas motel. But there’s one problem. The British report is just a silly online rumor, Newark police told WND.

Spokeswoman Amy Cromer laughed and said, “As far as we know, this story is a hoax. There have not been any arrests here, and we’re not aware of any convictions like that in this county.“

Cromer said word gets around in a town with a population of only 1,100 people. The rumor is spreading so quickly that she said the county decided to feature the story on its blog.

[More here…]

You’d think any journalist would - oh, I don’t know - check their facts or something?

I posted elsewhere about a local kid who actually *did* raid mom and dad’s wall safe, went on a massive shopping spree, and is now doing ‘Home Gitmo’ for the deed…

Yes, things like that do happen, but strangely journos still feel the need to make them up. Go figure.

Why on earth would 13 year olds hire hookers to play Halo?

No, that there is a plot hole, amigos.

Robin Bobcat - 15 May 2008 02:40 AM

I posted elsewhere about a local kid who actually *did* raid mom and dad’s wall safe, went on a massive shopping spree, and is now doing ‘Home Gitmo’ for the deed…

I remember that… http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/forums/viewthread/6755/

Renquist - 15 May 2008 04:02 AM

Why on earth would 13 year olds hire hookers to play Halo?

No, that there is a plot hole, amigos.

Strip Halo??  Not quite like strip poker but I guess the kids aren’t into poker yet.

gray - 15 May 2008 05:15 PM

Renquist - 15 May 2008 04:02 AM

Why on earth would 13 year olds hire hookers to play Halo?

No, that there is a plot hole, amigos.

Strip Halo??  Not quite like strip poker but I guess the kids aren’t into poker yet.

“F***in’ PWNED! Plamsa grenade right up the jacksie. Now lose the bra, bitch.“

Hoax news item gets widely reported. Hoax news item gets exposed. Nothing more to be said?

Think again, it may all have been a scam to bump a site up the Google rankings.

Search Engine Optimization Through Hoax News

Over at Search Engine Land’s Sphinn, people are discussing a search engine optimization tactic which tries to assemble backlink juice by posting a fake news article. Jonathan Crossfield wraps it up: “Online marketer Lyndon Antcliff recently helped a client achieve over 1500 inbound links in under a week with a story designed to grab attention.” The article, titled “13 Year Old Steals Dad’s Credit Card to Buy Hookers,” was and still is hosted at the authoritative looking domain Money.co.uk, which is a financial advisor and Lyndon’s client, apparently. The hoax news explains that “Ralph Hardy, a 13 year old from Newark, Texas confessed to ordering an extra credit card from his father’s existing credit card company,” taking his friends on a $30,000 spending spree “culminating in playing ’Halo’ on an Xbox with a couple of hookers in a Texas motel.”

Jonathan continues to explain that the page received 2,452 votes at social news site Digg.com (it’s currently at 2,489 diggs, and not marked as incorrect, attracting comments like “Ballsy kid.”). Then, mainstream news made it into the mix. The hoax item was covered in Australia News.com.au, The Daily Telegraph, Fox News and many others, Jonathan says, and even reached the print version of UK’s Sun newspaper.

So, lazy journalism, hoax or linkbait?

David B. - 23 May 2008 06:40 AM

So, lazy journalism, hoax or linkbait?

Or all three, perhaps.