“Mandatory Penis Inspection” prank passes on

Claim:

“Mandatory penis inspection” flyers posted in high schools in the US and elsewhere are authentic notifications from school administrators.

Valuation:

In January 2023, we came across online samples of a flyer allegedly posted in the hallway of a high school somewhere in the United States, informing students that a “mandatory penis inspection” was about to take place.

It seemed like a joke at first glance, and in fact it was. It took only a few minutes of investigation to confirm that the scam was widespread, long-lasting, and not limited to the United States. Aided and encouraged by the internet, posting (and/or e-mailing or texting) such notifications was common high school.older prank” for over a decade.

For a current example This photo was shared on Twitter on January 24, 2023:

Since 2011 at the latest, the prank “mandatory penis inspection” has been appearing in various places year after year and sometimes even attracting media attention. For example, in May 2019, a group of students hacked into their high school’s email system to deliver this notification:

This variant had been posted just a month earlier at another high school:

As it turns out, penis inspections aren’t just for high school students. The following variant was released at a US Navy facility in October 2018. It states that inspections are performed by a MIDN 1/C tool:

The date of this variant of the announcement was May 2017:

May 2014:

January 2012:

The tradition of “mandatory penis inspection” (if we may call it that) has been the subject of much amusing news, exemplified by headlines such as this one from the Daily Mail in May 2014: “High school suspect elders pranked the school with official penis inspection letters signed by “penis inspector” Richard Dong.”

The release of a prank notice to the students of the University of British Columbia on November 22 actually triggered an official notice of the notice: “UBC is aware of a fake penis inspection letter making rounds on campus.”

And a breathless article in the April 29, 2017 issue of The Sun carried the incomparable headline: “WHAT BLACK: Students sent letters about ‘mandatory penis control’ in bizarre high school prank.”

Sources