On Monday, November 4, the story of a selfish couple stealing about $30,000 in donations intended for their wedding went viral all over the internet.
People couldn't believe anyone would be so dishonest and greedy in full view of their wedding guests!
Turns out the disbelief was warranted.
For once, the internet was right to be skeptical. The entire interaction has now been revealed as an internet hoax.
The thread, which contained the bride and groom's entire family going off angrily in the chat after the couple announced they would be pocketing $30k in wedding donations for their "pre-honeymoon," was reported on by innumerable media outlets.
Things started to get a little weird, however, when more screenshots of the conversation appeared on Reddit with a watermark directing people to CapturedIt.club, a website promising "social media drama."
Some quick investigations revealed the website was actually created on the same day the post went viral.
The site contained only one post: a breakdown of the viral exchange, written as if the author had no connection to the content.
Up until this point, it was plausible that the website was just one of many media outlets taking advantage of the post's virality.
That's when they made a mistake, however.
Trying to demonstrate people's hunger for a continuation of the story, CapturedIt.Club posted a picture of a DM only the author of the original post could receive.
This inadvertently outed the creator of the website as the original poster of the thread.
As these things were being discovered, however, "updates" which involved threats to sue and mental breakdowns continued to be posted all over the internet.
After someone on Reddit noticed no one was engaging (liking or disliking) with ANY of the responses on Facebook, everyone got very suspicious. They tried to track down the Amazon directory the "bride" mentioned in her original post and could find nothing.
There was also no sign of any GoFundMe which recently raised $30k for a "Pam-Edward" wedding.
As fans discovered these many inconsistencies, CapturedIt.club was updated and replaced with a single image admitting to the hoax.
It seems the internet is still vulnerable to pranksters offering us any kind of drama.
Perhaps next time we won't be fooled so easily!
Enjoy a good prank? MTV's Punk'd - The Complete First Season is available here.
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