I think the original post was an intentional troll to see if anyone would buy it. I thought I read that it's that guy's M.O.
I have to remind people all the time that there are people intentionally posting stuff like that just to see who will bite and believe it, and then to see how far it will get shared. There are an awful of people ready to share every outrageous thing they see and accept it all as a given.
If I'm already skeptical of "news" organizations, why shouldn't I be a thousand times more skeptical of anonymous noodlebrains posting fake stuff just to troll?
Sigh.