Fake News: Georgia Woman (66) Did NOT Auction Her Virginity to Pay For Sex Change

Fact Check

  • by: Maarten Schenk
Fake News: Georgia Woman (66) Did NOT Auction Her Virginity to Pay For Sex Change

Is 66-year-old Kathy McAllister from Atlanta, Georgia auctioning off her virginity to pay for sex reassignement surgery? No, that's not true: the story was made up by a site that constantly fabricates tales of weird sex acts, crazy people or bizarre crimes, all for entertainment purposes. None of it is real.

The story originated from an article published by World News Daily Report on September 2, 2018 titled "Georgia: 66-year-old woman auctions her virginity to highest bidder to pay for sex change" (archived here) which opened:

Atlanta, GA | A 66-year-old woman is auctioning her virginity online so she can afford a $50,000 sex reassignment surgery.

Kathy McAllister, a recently retired elementary school teacher, enlisted the help of Cinderella Escorts to sell her body online after coming across the website in a newspaper.

McAllister, who was born in 1952, says she thought her age would drive up the bidding and claims she has a certified medical note confirming her virginity.

"There are a lot of young women auctioning their virginity online, but a 60-year-old virgin is like a great tasting aged wine," she told reporters when reached by phone.

Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:

Georgia: 66-year-old woman auctions her virginity to highest bidder to pay for sex change

Atlanta, GA | A 66-year-old woman is auctioning her virginity online so she can afford a $50,000 sex reassignment surgery. Kathy McAllister, a recently retired elementary school teacher, enlisted the help of Cinderella Escorts to sell her body online after coming across the website in a newspaper.

The woman in the picture is actually only 60 and her name is Paula Abraham, she made the press for her fight with Alzheimer's disease:

60-year-old South Bend woman begins fight against Alzheimer's

The movie "Still Alice" opens Friday at three theatres in Michiana. Julianne Moore stars as Alice, a Columbia linguistic professor diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease. Moore won a Golden Globe for best actress and is up for an Academy Award for her performance. But for a South Bend woman named Paula Abraham, this is no performance.

The website World News Daily Report is a well known satire website specialized in posting hoaxes and made up stories. The disclaimer on their website is pretty clear about that even though you have to scroll all the way down the page to find it:

World News Daily Report assumes all responsibility for the satirical nature of its articles and for the fictional nature of their content. All characters appearing in the articles in this website - even those based on real people - are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any person, living, dead or undead, is purely a miracle.

It is run by Janick Murray-Hall and Olivier Legault, who also run the satirical Journal de Mourréal, a satirical site spoofing the (real) Journal de Montéal. Very often their stories feature an image showing a random crazy mugshot found in a mugshot gallery on the internet or on a stock photo website superimposed over a background of flashing police lights or crime scene tape.

Articles from the site are frequently copied (sometimes even months or years later) by varous fake news websites that omit the satire disclaimer and present the information as real.

We wrote about worldnewsdailyreport.com before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:

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  Maarten Schenk

Lead Stories co-founder 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

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