A creepy person used prank website React365 to post an article titled "Spartanburg Police Department investigating serial killer killings in Gaffney, Cowpens and Spartanburg...". The full text of the hoax read:
7 dead bodies were found laying in various places scattered around Cowpens, Gaffney and Spartanburg, SC in the last 2 months. The most recent one found was exactly 3 days ago laying in a field off of Wofford Street in Spartanburg ,SC. All were women between the ages of 23 to 36. Families have decided to keep the victims names anonymous. The killer seems to pick women of all races with tattoo ridden bodies. The killer leaves a rose beside each body as well. Please be careful. More information will be issued to the public when it becomes available.
No reputable media are reporting on this killing spree and of course the victims are anonymous so there is no way to check if they are real. But the picture that went with the story is actually from a 2015 search for a missing girl in Belton, Leicesterhshire (United Kingdom).
React365 is a prank website where users can submit their own headline, description and photo to create realistic looking prank news articles.
Users don't even need to upload their own image, there is a built-in search function that will pull an appropriate image from Google image search.
The site is part of a larger network of prank sites all using the same basic layout but sometimes in different languages. It appears to be run by a Belgian company named Mediavibes or Media Vibes which is managed by a man named Nicolas Gouriou according to registration records.
So don't be like the thousands of people from the area that got the bejeezus scared out of them by this article and shared it with all their friends to warn them. Warn them about fake news instead...
