"I'm An Idiot.....Not A Con-Artist"

This is a pretty incredible story about a con that has been running in Southern Illinois for the past two years. Apparently, the SIU newspaper, The Daily Egyptian (I wonder when the NCAA is coming after this name), has been running a series of letters by a little girl whose father was supposedly serving in Iraq. The problem is, it turns out the story isn't true.

The quote above is from the student reporter who "broke" the story and now has been accused by the girl's "aunt" of being involved in the scheme. I feel bad for the guy, who admits he did a pretty awful job of checking the background before running with the story. This is what happens though when the press is told exactly what it wants to hear. If it would make him feel any better, I'd point out that several of his more experienced colleagues in the scribbling business have, to varying degrees, been victims of this phenomena as well.