Some in genealogy chat groups, however, complained that a name that looks even roughly plausible could be mistaken as real by a novice, or cause even a genealogy expert to spend a lot of time and money to eliminate the possibility it is the person for whom they are seeking.

"Boo hoo," Harrold told the Morning News in response to such complaints. He said "the real story" is how Google and other search engines do not verify content they seek and guide others to for profit. He said databases by the LDS Church and Ancestry.com also contain some incorrect information submitted by patrons. His obviously false data creates less threat to genealogy research than they do, he said.

Harrold suggested in chat groups that he might sue people who referred to his work as a "scam." He also warned the Morning News to be careful what it said about him.

In turn, makers of the Legacy Family Tree software threatened to sue Harrold if he did not remove from his Web site instructions about how to download free software from them that could assist the Fake Family program.

Meanwhile, Mary Kay Evans, spokeswoman for Ancestry.com, a Utah company that, as part of its service, offers a large database of names, said, "It is so unfortunate that there are predators on the Web who target people interested in their genealogy. Genealogy is such a popular hobby that predators are moving to take advantage of that."

Evans, as well as many genealogists and even Harrold himself, urges genealogists to verify carefully all sources of information in genealogy, especially any obtained online from people they do not know. "That is a primary role of Ancestry.com, to help people see source records," Evans said.

Anderson, who operates a small family Web site, also encourages genealogists to actually talk to people operating such sites and ask for all source information.

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E-mail: lee@desnews.com