An 18-year-old named Noah Tinch died in Colorado while fly fishing with his family, one day before his 19th birthday. Before the family could finish funeral plans, a flood of fake obituaries appeared online, AI-generated articles with wrong middle names and one that listed the teenage boy as 32 years old.
Dr. Lisa Blue, director of AI strategies at Eastern Kentucky University, says these fake obituaries are posted anonymously, often from overseas, on low-quality sites that chase ad revenue. Nobody fact-checks them. They exist to attract clicks, and a real family ends up correcting lies during the hardest week of their lives.
The good news is there’s a practical defense. Publish the real obituary as early as possible on a funeral home website or a trusted platform, then ask friends and family to share only that link. Being first and being official is the best way to keep the true story in front of people. Have you talked with your family about who would handle this kind of thing? It’s a hard conversation, and it’s worth having.
