For more nearly 30 minutes on Tuesday night, a Twitter imposter pretending to be Mike Jenkins had the world wondering if the Dallas Cowboys cornerback had been traded to the Oakland Raiders. By the time it became clear it was all a ruse, the lame account had been deleted.
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An account called @MikeJenk21, which apparently belonged to someone who had been pretending to be the former Pro Bowler for months, announced, "Just got TRADED to the @Raiders Black hole baby!!" With more than 18,000 followers, including big names like Emmitt Smith and Terrelle Pryor, the faker had would-be Raiders teammates sending their congratulations.
Fans took to Twitter to discuss the news, and the fake Jenkins tweets were oft-retweeted.
News outlets picked up on the "news," including the Dallas Morning News and SB Nation Bay Area. Within 30 minutes, however, confused Cowboys officials and those close to Jenkins shot down the rumor. They spread the word it was all fake.
The truth was, Jenkins had not been traded, despite the wishes of the actual person (and the Twitter account). Within an hour, all had returned to normal. Those who picked up on the report and believed it to be news had taken down their posts.
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