The fact-check archive.
Thousands of dissected hoaxes in Indonesian and English: the claim, what the fact-checkers found, and the sources to verify it yourself.
8,224 fact-checks
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Becoming a Father or Mother Facebook Group Pedophile Warning Hoax
This warning is meaningless. There is no Facebook group like the one described in the message. Several groups using the same or very similar names have been created, but only in response to this warning message.
Hoax-Slayer · English · May 24, 2010
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FIFA 2010 World Cup Lottery Scam
The email is not from FIFA and the supposed lottery does not exist. The message is a scam designed to trick recipients into sending money and personal information to Internet criminals.
Hoax-Slayer · English · May 17, 2010
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Letter Z To Be Removed from the Alphabet Hoax
The message began as an April Fool’s joke that has escaped its original context. There are no plans to remove the letter Z from the English alphabet and no such entity as the “English Language Central Commission”.
Hoax-Slayer · English · May 12, 2010
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GENUINE – Incredible Cave Village Photographs
The village is real and the photographs are genuine. However, the village is not located in Afghanistan as claimed in the message. In fact, the photographs show a village named Kandovan that is located in Iran.
Hoax-Slayer · English · Apr 27, 2010
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Google ‘Received Your Resume’ Malware Email
The email is not from Google and the attachment does not contain a job application. In fact, the attached file contains malware that can send further copies of itself to email addresses found on the infected computer, can download other malicious files from…
Hoax-Slayer · English · Mar 16, 2010
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Facebook Gold Account Hoaxes and Scams
There is no such thing as a Facebook Gold account. The Facebook Gold status updates are designed to fool people into joining one of many bogus Facebook groups.
Hoax-Slayer · English · Feb 22, 2010
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Automation Labs Facebook Privacy Warning Hoax
This warning is a hoax and should be ignored. Entering the search term ‘automation labs’ as described in the warning will indeed provide a list of Facebook users.
Hoax-Slayer · English · Feb 4, 2010
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What Is A Golf Ball Worth? – Alligator Takes Golfer’s Arm Photographs
The photographs are genuine but the description is not accurate. The images do not depict a golfer who was attacked while retrieving his ball.
Hoax-Slayer · English · Jan 27, 2010
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False Rumours Claim That Facebook is About to Start Charging Users
For several months, rumours claiming that popular social networking website, Facebook, will shortly begin charging its users access fees have been vigorously circulating.
Hoax-Slayer · English · Jan 27, 2010
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Facebook Friend Reported You Virus Warning
The warning was valid but is now outdated. The warning is based on a genuine security threat that targeted Facebook users in early 2009. At that time, a rogue Facebook application was sending bogus terms of service violation messages to Facebook users.
Hoax-Slayer · English · Jan 16, 2010
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Baby Girl Heart Transplant Message Forwarding Hoax
This message is a hoax. It is yet another variant in a long line of hoaxes that falsely claim money will be donated to help a sick child whenever the message is forwarded to others. All such claims are untrue.
Hoax-Slayer · English · Dec 29, 2009
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False Story Claims 450 Gaza Grooms Wed Girls Under Ten in Mass Muslim Marriage
False – Text and photographs blatantly misrepresent the true nature of the mass marriage. The little girls in the photographs are not the brides Messages like the example included above are currently circulating via email and have also been posted to a great…
Hoax-Slayer · English · Dec 5, 2009
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Incredible Music Machine Prank – University of Iowa
A video that supposedly shows an incredible music machine created out of farm equipment is circulating via email and online. The video itself is certainly an incredible and inspiring piece of work.
Hoax-Slayer · English · Oct 29, 2009
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Bogus Microsoft Critical Upgrade Notification Email
The email is not from Microsoft. The claim that a critical security issue has been discovered on the recipient’s computer is untrue. Those who click the link in the message will be taken to a bogus website where they may be tricked into downloading malware.
Hoax-Slayer · English · Sep 9, 2009
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Big Slip – Giant Water Slide Jump Video
This video supposedly shows one brave soul – German engineer Bruno Kammerl – shooting down a giant plastic water slide before rocketing high into the air off a ramp at the end of the slide and landing safely in a small kiddie pool high on the hill.
Hoax-Slayer · English · Aug 14, 2009
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Bell Canada Phishing Scam Email
This email, which purports to be from major Canadian telecommunications company Bell Canada, claims that due to a problem with a recent bill payment, the recipient is required to update his or her billing information or risk an interruption of service.
Hoax-Slayer · English · Aug 7, 2009
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Alarmist and Inaccurate Swine Flu Warning
According to this emailed warning message, H1N1 (swine flu) is currently wiping out entire villages in parts of Asia and has already mutated into a more deadly strain.
Hoax-Slayer · English · Jul 31, 2009
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Overdue Payments Advance Fee Scam
Summary: Message claims that the recipient is owed payments of $5.5 million and he or she should contact a specified “representation officer” to arrange transfer of the funds.
Hoax-Slayer · English · Jul 30, 2009
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Woolworths Two Hundred And Fifty Rand Cookie Recipe Hoax
This message supposedly tells the delicious tale of how one ordinary customer takes revenge on an unscrupulous company by distributing free copies of a cookie recipe for which he or she was charged an exorbitant fee because of a misunderstanding about the…
Hoax-Slayer · English · Jul 15, 2009
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Nigerian Computer Scientist Advance Fee Scam
This email message claims to be from a computer scientist named Adekunle Elvis who works at a bank in Nigeria. “Adekunle” claims that he has found and examined the recipient’s file at the bank and discovered that a large sum of money that was supposed to be…
Hoax-Slayer · English · May 5, 2009
Entries are collected from public fact-checking sites and link back to the original article.