A widely published story that a 13-year-old has been convicted of fraud after stealing his dad's credit card and ordering two prostitutes from an escort agency may be a hoax.


The original story said Ralph Hardy used the card to take his friends on a $US30,000 spending spree that ended with them playing Halo on an Xbox with prostitutes in a Texas motel, according to a Money.co.uk report.

However police from the county where the alleged incident was supposedly took place say the story doesn't stack up.

Newark county police spokeperson Amy Cromer said, "As far as we know, this story is a hoax. There have not been any arrests here, and we're not aware of any convictions like that in this county."

According to the story police were alerted by a concerned delivery clerk who delivered soft drinks and junk food to the teens' motel room, and were asked by the group where they could find some women and were willing to pay.

They told him they had won a World of Warcraft tournament and wanted to relax.

By the time the police arrived the two $1000-a-night escorts were playing on the Xbox with the boys.

The teens reportedly told the prostitutes they were "people of restricted growth" working in a travelling circus, and couldn't refuse them because it would be discriminating against the disabled, which is against Texas law.

The two girls sensed something was wrong when the boys preferred to play Halo rather than engage in their services.