New York Magazine issued an apology yesterday to its readers, admitting it was the victim of a hoax in its viral story about a schoolboy who made US$72 million trading stocks during his school lunch break.

The magazine published an article Sunday saying that a Stuyvesant High School 12-grader “made US$72 million trading stocks on his lunch break”.

The student, Mohammed Islam, 17, had confirmed to the magazine that his net worth was in the “high eight figures” and produced bank statement that attested to the sum, the magazine said in a statement.

The story soon went viral on social media and was republished by several other media outlets across the world. The New York Post published its own version of the story and put the news on its Sunday front page.

In an interview Monday night with the New York Observer , Islam said that the entire story was made up, and he had never invested or made any money in stock-market trading.

Islam told the Observer that he ran an investment club at his high school, which did only simulated trades and that he “had made even more than US$72 million on the simulated trades”.

“We were duped,” New York Magazine said. “Our fact-checking process was obviously inadequate; we take full responsibility, and we should have known better.”

The latest hoax comes amid another media scandal involving Rolling Stone Magazine , which had detailed an account of a 2012 gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity house.

Later elements of the account in the magazine’s Nov 19 story were cast into doubt by the Washington Post and other media, and the magazine apologised for a lapse in judgment.

- dpa