Fake Bloomfield Hills Target shooting gains traction on TikTok; police debunk story

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(Photo: TikTok)

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich. (FOX 2) - No, an elderly woman did not shoot a man over a handicapped parking spot at a Bloomfield Hills Target store.

A fake story featuring an AI-generated photo of the alleged suspect, 70-year-old Pauline Brown, led to police debunking the claim.

"This incident did not occur, we have received several inquires surrounding this post," Bloomfield Township police said.

Bloomfield Township police responded rather than Bloomfield Hills because there isn't a Target in Bloomfield Hills like the made-up story states, but there is one in the township.

The story posted by a TikTok account by the name of Dax News claims that Brown shot a 19-year-old man named Chad Bosnik after he sped around her to take a handicap parking spot. However, this didn't happen, the people are made up, and the photo of Brown is AI-generated.

Beyond TikTok, AI-generated sites picked up the story and presented it as real.

This isn't the first time Dax News has ended up on FOX 2's radar for fake news. In the spring, a story was posted claiming that a man named Douglass Barnes killed a teen girl named Samantha McCaffery during her prom in Livonia. The video says the murder was revenge for Samantha's cop father, Mike McCaffery, killing Barnes's son several years ago.

A quick scrub of the Dax News TikTok account shows numerous fabricated stories based in Michigan. There are even AI-generated videos of the alleged suspects.

According to the Dax News account, the page has a "commitment to portraying Black individuals who stand up to an oppressive and racist system."

"As Dax News continues to grow and challenge established narratives, the world will be watching closely to see how this independent, Black voice shapes the ongoing discourse around justice, race, and media representation," the page wrote in a post after receiving an email from CBS News regarding the stories posted.

However, doing so through fabricated stories that spread quickly has caused confusion, as many view the stories as true.

In May, TikTok said it would start labeling AI-generated content on the platform. However, the Dax News stories do not have this designation. On a page that lays out how TikTok handles AI-generated material, the social media site says, "On TikTok, we require people to disclose realistic AI-generated content (AIGC), so that they can express their creativity while providing context for viewers."

Being vigilant when consuming information online is an important part of combating fake and AI-generated news. If you see a story online, be skeptical and check the source. If you do not recognize the source as a legitimate news outlet, search for the story. In the case of the prom murder, one story does come up on Google, but it is from a news site that is not real and does not include where the website is based - a sign it may not be reliable.

Fake news isn't the only issue artifical intelligence is creating. The technology is being used to clone voices, allowing scammers to trick victims into thinking they are speaking with a loved one.

The mimicking of another person's voice could soon be a major source of online scams, misinformation, and trouble for governmental institutions.