News Outlets Share Bogus “Gang” Story

(Update: Jillian B. Stickels of the FBI responded this morning (3/26), confirming that the story is a hoax and noting that the faux story is already included on the debunking website Snopes.com, which says it first appeared on a satirical site called National Report. And, also as of this morning, “American Iron” has added a label “Fake Harley News” to its post.)

This much is for certain. Readers of “Dealernews” – at least those who visit the trade publication’s Facebook page – are much wiser than the apparent non-thinkers controlling the content of said page. As for readers of  “American Iron’s” website, the jury’s still out.

“Dealernews” and “American Iron” magazine were among the publications this afternoon passing along as fact an apparently bogus news story purporting that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is keeping meticulous track of riders.

The story claims that a “classified FBI gang list” exists and it contains the name of most riders. It was posted earlier today on what appears to be a parody website.

For more than a half-hour this afternoon, a Facebook post from “Dealernews” linked to the story, which claimed that anyone who obtained an “M” endorsement or registered a motorcycle between 1994 and 2015 is on the “classified FBI gang list.”

The story also warned that the supposedly secret info “can show up to potential employers on select background checks.”

“American Iron” didn’t post on Facebook, but did post a headline about the story on the front page of its website, then ran the story verbatim without attribution on another page.

The original story was made to seem somewhat legit by emphasizing that the admission of the “gang list” was made by an actual person (“government official Darrin Cornia”) under questioning by a reporter (“MSNBC correspondent Jeremy Lancaster”).

Furthering the appearance of veritas was the fact the story seemed to appear on “The Washington Post” newspaper’s website.

However, close inspection of the URL revealed the website to be “washingtonpost.com.co.” The added “.co” provided a giveaway that the story was untrue, and a footnote on that website said it is “in no way affiliated” with the newspaper.

Hence, the story was a hoax. Indeed, all the stories at that location seem to be spoofs used as filler to draw attention to the fact the domain name may be purchased.

Whether the editors at “Dealernews”  and “American Iron” stupidly fell for the story and blithely passed it on without doing a little checking themselves, which would fall under the heading of Journalism 101, or were simply trying to get a jump on April Fool’s Day, the passing along of the story unfortunately put what is certainly a falsehood into widespread circulation.

Granted, some of those who commented in response to the Facebook post by “Dealernews” intuitively realized that the story was false, but not everyone did. Regardless, sharing the story without checking made “Dealernews” and “American Iron” look amateurish and inept.

Other non-news websites, including BikersPost.com, also picked up the bogus story and later took it down. How much do you want to bet, though, that this tale of purported government intrusion will continue to circulate as fact for months and years to come?

“Dealernews” did eventually take the post down, noting, “…while we’ve all had a laugh we wouldn’t want some people to take this seriously.” As of 6 p,m., the story was still posted on the “American Iron” website.

While I didn’t take the gang list story seriously, I did take seriously the fact that supposedly reputable publications would pass along something like this as being legitimate, and I did call the FBI in Washington, D.C. for comment. I was told to send an email, so I did – detailing how “Dealernews” was sharing the story on Facebook. After all, I wouldn’t want to pass along false information.

I later noted my contact with the FBI on the Facebook page of “Dealernews,” which prompted this response:

“We apologize for any confusion our temporary re-posting of this article may have caused, have taken appropriate action, and hope that this has not eroded your confidence in Dealernews.”

Not really. In fact, I’m sure “Dealernews” didn’t damage itself in the least by the short-lived post – unless embarrassment falls under that heading.

If and when the FBI responds, I’ll update. I’m confident that a confirmation of a “gang list” won’t be forthcoming. Sure would have been fun to be on a secret government watch list…