Facts Matter: No evidence that postal uniforms were stolen and used in robbery ruse

A recent post bears a warning for other social media users.

A Dec. 19 Facebook post, shared nearly 4,000 times, claims "the United States Postal Service uniform store" was broken into and that stolen uniforms were being used to trick people into opening their doors to armed robbers.

But there is no evidence this happened, according to PolitiFact.

A Postal Inspection Service spokesperson told PolitiFact the agency had no reports of postal uniform thefts.

A comment on the post claimed the incident happened in Nutbush, Tennessee, but a Memphis postal inspector told PolitiFact there was "no information related to the claim."

The inspector said he didn't believe Nutbush had a postal service uniform store.

Dan Mihalko, a U.S. Postal Inspection spokesperson, told The Associated Press most postal uniforms are not purchased at a dedicated store but rather through uniform vendors.

Pence hasn't filed to run

A screenshot of a Federal Election Commission statement of candidacy filing for former Vice President Mike Pence made the rounds on social media last week.

"BREAKING: Mike Pence has just filed to run for President in 2024. This is the guy who said that DOJ charges against Trump for Jan 6th. would be 'divisive,'" one Twitter post read.

But Pence, who served with former President Donald Trump from 2017 to 2021, has not announced a run for the office, according to The Washington Post.

"Former Vice President Mike Pence did not file to run for President today," Pence spokesperson Devin O'Malley tweeted on Dec. 26.

"You'll have to reach out to the FEC for answers about the filing," O'Malley told the Post.

An FEC spokesperson told the Post, "We cannot comment on specific filings."

The filing was for a "Mr. Mike Richard Pence," although Pence's full first name is Michael. It also included an address from Anderson, Indiana, which his campaign has used before.

A Pence aide previously told the Post the former vice president was planning to spend the holidays considering his presidential campaign.

Yellowstone not closed

A video posted on Facebook contains clips of fiery volcanic eruptions and disturbing news about Yellowstone National Park.

"Yellowstone Officials Just Closed Down The Park & Said The Volcanic Uplift Is Rising," reads text with the video.

A narrator on the clip claims, "Yellowstone officials have noticed this uplift rising and are closing down the park."

But this is incorrect.

"The park is open for the winter season and has not been closed since the flood event in June," Yellowstone spokesperson Linda Veress told The Associated Press, referring to flooding during the summer.

Some roads are closed to automobiles during the winter, but the park is open.

An uplift occurs at volcanoes when magma, or sometimes water or gas, accumulates beneath the surface, Michael Poland, a scientist at the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, told the AP.

"This idea of volcanic uplift in Yellowstone is complete hogwash," Poland said. He said the trend at the park has been subsidence, or deflation, since 2015.

University of California professor Kari Cooper told the AP the ground at the park can change.

"The ground surface at Yellowstone is moving all the time, sometimes up and sometimes down, and it would not be cause for concern unless it was outside the normal patterns," she said.

No hidden alien face

An "old hoax" claiming there is an image of an alien figure hidden in a dollar bill has reemerged on social media, according to Reuters.

"Anybody else know about this. If you turn the contrast all the way up on your camera the back of the dollar bill seal becomes an alien face," reads one Facebook post.

The post includes three images of the back of a dollar displaying the Great Seal of the United States.

Each seal is shown darker and looking like the head of a person with a large forehead and dark eyes.

The image showing the alien head has been altered, Reuters said. Increasing the contrast will not create the alien image.

Extra shading has been added to the doctored photo to create the eyes and mouth of the figure.

This false claim dates back to 2013 when it was part of an article under the headline, "Grey/Reptilian Face Deciphered On The Back of the U.S. Dollar Bill! EXCLUSIVE!"

• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.