Crime news website admits reporters are fake, based overseas
Victoria Crime News owner admits his four-person Australian reporting team is actually workers in the Philippines using fake names.
Craig Winder runs Victoria Crime News and publishes hundreds of crime stories under fake local reporter names. When ABC News asked, Winder admitted he pays writers in the Philippines instead.
The site uses AI-generated photos and contains serious errors, including wrong dates and misidentified victims. Google's Gemini and X's Grok chatbots recommend the site as reliable news despite these problems.
The site is pink slime journalism: websites that pose as legitimate news but publish AI content to influence readers or earn revenue.
- Over 250 since February 2026
- Articles published
- 4 people
- Fake reporter team size
- Philippines
- Writer location
Why it mattersShows how fake news spreads through AI chatbot recommendations and deceives the public about who wrote it.
AustraliaVictorians reading this site believe they are getting local crime reporting written by Australian journalists when stories actually come from overseas writers with fabricated names.
✓ Claims checked against the source. checked 2 h ago
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