Whoa, Bill Murray foils Phoenix bank robbery! Wait, no, he didn’t

Wow, the things you can read on the Internet.

In fact, if it weren’t for the Internet, hardly anyone would know that actor and comic Bill Murray stopped a Phoenix bank robbery by accident this week.

According to an online report, the robber saw Murray on the street and stopped to talk to the actor. That gave police enough time to catch him.

Now thousands have read what happened and possibly several of them realize the story is hoax. Just as it was last year when Murray was credited with ruining a bank robbery in Tokyo.

The Phoenix robbery online story included a link to a local TV news site that went nowhere, and then a long disclaimer referring to a local musical festival.

Al Pacino in “Dog Day Afternoon.”
A fake bank robbery since it was a movie, but was actually based on a true story.

Well, we were suspicious from the start. The name of the Phoenix police chief was incorrect, there were no official press releases and no legitimate news outlets had run with it.

Reddit users were skeptical, too, and many set about debunking the story.

Of course, none of this means Murray couldn’t eventually disrupt a bank robbery by accident.

If that happens, it probably will be on the Internet.