Plastic surgery crime story originated on a self-described satire site

It’s time for a longtime false headline to go under the knife again, but our post-op instructions are simple: Stop sharing this old plastic surgery story as if it’s authentic. 

"Man gets plastic surgery and name change to date his ex-girlfriend after she obtains restraining order," the headline says above two headshots of men against blue backgrounds. One of the men has brown hair and dark eyes, and the other has blonde hair and lighter eyes. 

Below the images, it says: "A New Jersey man who went to great lengths to try and win back his ex-girlfriend despite a court restraining order was arrested this morning after his plot was discovered."

An Instagram post sharing a screenshot of the headline and photos was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.)

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stated on March 9, 2025 in in social media posts

Video shows President Donald Trump admitting he became president because of a “rigged” 2024 election.

As other fact-checking outlets reported in 2018 and 2022, this claim originated on World News Daily Report, a self-described satire site that no longer exists. The site also used to have a disclaimer saying "all characters appearing in the articles in this website — even those based on real people — are entirely fictional and any resemblance between them and any person, living, dead or undead, is purely a miracle."

We found no evidence, such as credible news coverage, that the characters in this story, "40-year-old James Mack from Camden" and "his ex-girlfriend, 34-year-old Sarah Lopez," were involved in any scenario described in the post.

The images in the story are also unconnected. The photo of the brown-haired man comes from a gallery of before-and-after images of "male facial procedures" on a Wisconsin cosmetic surgeon’s website. The photo of the blond-haired man comes from a series of before-and-after images of a "male model make over" patient on a New York plastic surgeon’s website. And the purported image of the harassed ex-girlfriend, Sarah Lopez, is a stock photo of a "woman discussing ideas and strategy in studio office."

We rate claims this is an authentic headline Pants on Fire!