Every so often, I come across a little story that someone has shared or re-shared on Facebook, or Twitter or by email.
There is always something either touching or outrageous about it.
And for a moment, I am suckered in. But then I read the story again carefully and it just does not ring true or seems too good to be true.
So I Google it. Never takes long and find the true story.
Like this one, recently on Facebook, of an old man who died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home.
It's of course a fake.
Or the fake photo of the recent Alberta oil leak.
Or the touching story of the mother who saved her baby in a Japanese earthquake. Again, fiction!
These are just three I have spotted but I have been taken-in myself at times. Why are we suckers for such stories and worse still why do we pass them on without any due diligence?
I don't know. But please, next time you read a story that seems just a little too good to be true - check it out first before sharing it.
