US

FACT CHECK: Did CBS News Tweet That A Florida Man Was Arrested For Kidnapping People And ‘Forcing Them To Play Yahtzee’?

No featured image available

An image shared on Facebook purportedly shows a tweet from CBS News that reads, “Florida man, 37, arrested for kidnapping 27 people and forcing them to play Yahtzee for 36 hours straight.”

Facebook/Screenshot

Verdict: False

There is no record of CBS News tweeting or reporting on such an incident. The tweet appears to be fabricated.

Fact Check:

The internet is replete with fake tweets that are created to look like they come from the verified Twitter accounts of politicians and news outlets.

In recent days, Facebook and Twitter users have been sharing an alleged CBS News tweet about a Florida man getting arrested for kidnapping over 25 people and “forcing them to play Yahtzee” for 36 hours. The purported Jan. 16 tweet includes a man’s mugshot.

Yet, while the tweet appears authentic at first glance, it is indeed fake. A search of the verified CBS News Twitter account, @CBSNews, yielded no matches for the tweet. It does not appear in an archived version of the account’s timeline on Jan. 16. The Daily Caller News Foundation also found no record of CBS News reporting about such an incident.

The mugshot featured in the fake CBS News tweet shows a man who was arrested in March 2016 for burglarizing a Louisiana church, according to a Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office news release. The sheriff’s office said it recovered and returned the stolen property, which included a flat-screen television, DVD player and surround-sound speakers, NOLA.com reported.

It is unclear who created the fake CBS News tweet. The fabricated tweet can be found on the popular meme-sharing website iFunny and on various Facebook meme pages.