Have Sharks Been Spotted in Belmar? Read More Here

Taking a look at that "notice", it looks pretty legitimate. It seems to be on US Coast Guard letterhead. It's dated today, and hey if people are posting it on Facebook, it must be true, right?

Wrong.

As I've mentioned before, these days you have to take what you see online with a grain of salt. Townsquare Media has reached out to representatives of the Belmar Beach Patrol as well as the Coast Guard, both of which confirmed that there is no truth to this "warning".

The first clue - an almost exact replica of the same "warning" has been popping up in California today too.

So again, a good rule of thumb - when you see something like this online, do a little research first before reposting. If nothing else, you'll save yourself some embarrassment later.

Oh, and while we're at it, NJ State Police are not going on a "speeding ticket blitz". This one has been popping up every couple of months for a couple of years now, usually under the auspices of being "confirmed by NJ 101.5 radio". Our sister station has confirmed to us that they have never released, confirmed, or reported this story.

It's a hoax, folks.