Unfortunately, it's a common thing to lie online for personal gain. It is a strange thing to do, especially when it comes to making up elaborate, long-running lies, but to each their own.

If it's worth the Reddit karma, online sympathy, followers and likes, then sure. But at some point or another, eventually someone will figure the lies out and call them out for what they are.

Digital footprints are real, and they follow a person forever, so it only takes one slip-up of the alternate persona to expose any lie super quickly.

Sometimes it's professional sources that lie, too. Headlines and ads have also been guilty of twisting the truth for some extra clicks. These are usually called out fairly quickly, either by the general public or by the person they're about.

Reddit is full of accounts of people lying on the internet and being called out for it. It is rather satisfying to see, and funny to read the lengths people will go for some online attention. Here are 24 people caught in the act of a lengthy lie.