No, LSU's Brian Kelly didn't rescue 165 people. How fake Facebook stories are fooling fans.

LSU football coach Brian Kelly did not rescue 165 people in the Texas floods. Neither did he decide to cover all funeral expenses and provide compensation to the families of the victims of the flash floods. Nor did he convince quarterback Garrett Nussmeier to join him on the mission. 

The LSU Tigers football team did not donate $50 million to support flood victims — despite the fake post having been liked by more than 4,000 people and shared by more than a thousand.

Country superstars Reba and Dolly didn't ride down the swollen Guadalupe River last week in matching orange rain jackets. 

Peyton Manning didn't change the life of a poor 13-year-old girl named Nia by paying for her to attend math camp, leading her to win a national math award seven years later.

King Charles didn't cry at the French state dinner on July 8, speaking about Catherine, Princess of Wales. Instead, he spoke about England's long and complicated history with France — and their hope for the future. 

All of those fabricated stories appear to be artificial intelligence-generated stories pushed by Facebook pages, usually run by people in other countries, particularly Vietnam and the Philippines. Specifically, the LSU-based stories are shared from a Facebook fan page called LSU Gridiron Glory. 

Why people make up this stuff — and what their endgame is — remains unclear. So I started digging.

The LSU Gridiron Glory fan page says that eight of the page managers live in Vietnam, two live in the U.S. and one lives in the Philippines. It also said that it's based at 105 N. Main St., in Koosharem, Utah. The "about page" even includes a phone number.

I called the number.

A woman named Annette answered. She had no idea what I was talking about. She and her family run a small farm. They used to accept wool and cotton from other people across the country and make yarn, but now they just farm. We chatted about my new loom. Then I asked if she or her farm were located on Main Street in Koosharem, population 310 people. 

She said she wasn't.

"I'm out of Koshurum," Annette said. "That address might be the mercantile, or it might be a church."

She had no idea how her phone got associated with a page about LSU sports, but she wished she could help me with my new loom. She's thinking about getting one herself. 

The hunt for other scam sites was on.

I found that there was a similar Sooners Gridiron Glory. I started digging into its "about" info and eventually learned that it uses the phone number and address for Ray's Barbecue in Norman, Oklahoma.

I called. The waitress who answered said I needed to talk to Ray. He, too, was confused and told me they were not affiliated with the Facebook page, but that they serve a mean version of St. Louis-style ribs. 

The list of sites pushing these made-up stories is long.

These types of stories are called "glurge," defined as "stories, often sent by email or social media, that are supposed to be true and uplifting, but which are often fabricated and sentimental," according to dictionary.com.

"Unfortunately, these types of posts are becoming more common on social media," said Michael Bonnette, LSU sports information director. "We do the best we can to report them to whichever platform that they appear, but other than that, there's not much more we can do."

Bonnette said LSU does not respond to the posts because they don't want to give the generated posts any credibility. 

Why are people in Vietnam and the Philippines going to the trouble of creating these AI-generated images? Money.

While the Facebook pages currently lack ads, commenters on "Country Nightfall" are often approached by profiles who appear to work with the page in messages — a setup likely to lead to money requests.

Beyond that, David Ponevac, an AI-expert with Luceon LLC, says the scammers who operate these pages do so with purpose and strategy.

"Facebook is a platform they use for sharing and building up a following," Ponevac said. "It is extremely simple to grow an audience on Facebook with fake/outrageous stories. Then they encourage you to read the whole article, and you end up going to a site where they run ads."

How to recognize glurge:

1. Check the story's credibility.

Is it from a reputable outlet, with a named and traceable journalist or photographer? If you can’t verify authorship or source history, be skeptical.

2. Examine the details.

In stories, look for vague timelines, generic quotes or phrasing that seems too smooth. AI text often lacks specificity.

In photos, look closely at the lines where people and backgrounds meet. AI does something funny to those areas. AI is getting better, but it often distorts these subtly. Extra fingers, warped glasses or melted jewelry are red flags. Check:

• hands
• eyes
• teeth
• text. (In the Peyton Manning/Nia story, the wording in photos is garbled.)

3. Does the story pull at your heartstrings?

While there are certainly real stories that are touching, AI-written stories often go to the extreme. They mimic emotion, but they lack nuance or contradiction — a human story usually includes complexity, flaws or unexpected details. If the story feels overly smooth, repetitive or emotionally forced, it's likely AI.

4. Cross-reference facts.

If you're still not sure, Google names, places and events mentioned in the text. If you can’t find independent confirmation of key details, it is likely an AI-fabricated story.

5. If you're able, use reverse image search.

Drop photos into Google Images or TinEye to see where else they appear. If the same image shows up with different contexts or no real origin, it is likely AI-generated.

In the age of AI, not every heartwarming story is real. If it sounds too good to be true — especially on Facebook — it probably is.