Farrell: No. There wasn't a mass shooting in Beaufort this week

If it sounds too good to be true, then it's probably a lie.

That's how the saying goes anyway.

Among the things we've learned are too good to be true over the years: fat-free anything (because they're filled with sugar, which is worse) and Bill Cosby (because he's worse).

As I learned this week, sometimes things that sound too bad to be true can also be a lie.

I guess this is a good thing.

If you're OK with lies.

I'm not, but they are generally better than the bad things.

On Tuesday, the Beaufort Police Department posted a warning on its Facebook page about a news story circulating on social media.

"The story is false and the link is fake, please do not share it or click on it," the police department post read.

The story, according to the garbage pit of a website that posted it, was "talked about" by more than 900 people.

Here is the headline on that story: "6 killed and 10 wounded in Beaufort."

Six killed and 10 wounded. In Beaufort.

Hold up. That's a mass shooting. Right here in town.

That's a local news story.

That's a CNN story.

That's a Fox News story.

That is a "Matt Lauer, pack your silk pajamas and moisturizer, you're going to the Lowcountry" story.

Maybe. I don't know what the "Today Show"'s shooting-travel budget standards are anymore.

But this is all just to say this is not a MindBlowNews.info story.

"A what now blow dot info story?" you ask.

Yes. A number of people saw "6 killed and 10 wounded in Beaufort" and were all, "MindBlowNews.info? Hmmm, this generic-looking website I've never heard of before built on WordPress sure does seem like a credible news source."

THEY BELIEVED IT.

Most likely it was even, "I'll just read the headline on this st-- WHAT? A SHOOTING! IN BEAUFORT?!? I'm going to be the first to tell my friends about this tragedy. I'm going to share this. I'll write 'Thoughts and prayers!' on my post. Yeah. That'll do it. Now ... what is the latest with that chubby Kardashian brother? Diabetes? No, sweet Lord. I knew that would happen. It was just a matter of time."

I can only shake my head. I can only mutter "check your sources, people." I can only shrug and think, "Well, this happens all the time. Every day."

To be fair, though, a number of fake-story commenters took the opportunity to point out to the story posters that the news was fake.

"Fake."

"Fake."

"I'm unfriending you if you thought this was real."

They did their civic duty. One intrepid Facebooker even thought to ask, you know, a primary source to find out the veracity of the tale.

"An informant IM'd us (on Facebook) inquiring whether it was real or not," Beaufort police spokeswoman Lt. Hope Able said, noting that the agency immediately clarified matters on its site. "We wanted to get out in front of it. To say this didn't happen. Not here."

The shooting, which supposedly occurred at an unnamed park where an untold number of people had allegedly gathered to shoot a rap video by an artist not named, bears a resemblance to one that happened last month in New Orleans.

There, 16 people were injured when two groups got into a shoot-out during the filming of a music video.

On Tuesday, though, people in locations all across the country were led to believe that this happened in their neighborhoods. The same story was posted over and over again on the site with the name of the town or city switched out in the headlines. Same photo. Same verbiage: "Six killed and Ten injured when two groups opened fire on each other during an impromptu gathering of several hundred people ..."

The site, according to a report by The (San Angelo) Standard-Times in western Texas, is registered to someone in the country of Georgia. The paper also warns readers not to click on the site because it contains possible malware.

And this is the part where I change all my passwords and possibly my identity.

Because I sure did click on that story. Several times. Even though I knew it was fake.

Curiosity got the best of me.

Things that occurred to me as I was looking at the site, though: "Hmmm. No ads here. What's this guy's endgame? Why does he need us to believe these lies? What does he gain by spreading them? Who is he anyway? Is he sad? Is he smart? Does he wear Nike but hate the U.S.? Does he plot? Is he a mastermind? Does he think we're stupid enough to click on this dumb stuff?"

Oh.

Follow columnist and senior editor Liz Farrell at twitter.com/elizfarrell and facebook.com/elizfarrell.

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This story was originally published December 30, 2015 at 6:29 PM with the headline "Farrell: No. There wasn't a mass shooting in Beaufort this week."