Just Because It's Trending Doesn't Mean It's True

Trending Video: Woman In Russia Sets Car On Fire Pumping Gas

  • by: Maarten Schenk
  • (Tue, 05 Jan 2016 13:45:39 Z)

Lead Stories' Trendolizer picked up this video which was being watched almost 150,000 times per hour so we thought we'd share it with you all. It appears to show a woman filling the gas tank of her car while fiddling with a lighter. Maybe the pump handle was frozen and she thought it was a good idea to use an open flame near an open gas tank? Anyway, the results are quite predictable.

The video description indicates the incident happened near Surgut, at the Gazpromneft filling station. If you ever want to visit, here are directions in Google Maps. It looks like a charming place, smack dab in the middle of Russia.

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Image source: Google Maps

About the author:

Maarten Schenk is our resident expert on fake news and hoax websites. He likes to go beyond just debunking trending fake news stories and is endlessly fascinated by the dazzling variety of psychological and technical tricks used by the people and networks who intentionally spread made-up things on the internet.  He can often be found at conferences and events about fake news, disinformation and fact checking when he is not in his office in Belgium monitoring and tracking the latest fake article to go viral.

Read more about or contact Maarten Schenk