Ryan Gosling
Reuters

Almost one million Facebook users were fooled over the weekend when a fake post from "Ryan Gosling", announcing that he had adopted a son, started circulating on the social network.

The post comes from a page for the actor deliberately giving the impression that it's the real star of Drive and Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Post by Ryan Gosling.

"This little guy was only 9 months old when I became his dad. His mom and I were great friends before she passed away from cancer. I promised her, I'd always look after him. So, I had decided to step up and become his dad," read the post, which came with a picture of Gosling holding a baby.

Roughly 918,000 people have liked the post at the time of writing with over 50,000 sharing the story to their own Facebook feeds.

The post also includes a link to a store selling a Ryan Gosling T-shirt.

A number of Gosling fans replied excitedly but many more saw sense and pointed out that the story was clearly a fake. "Kid is gonna be pissed when he finds out his dad could've been Ryan Gosling," said one, with another adding: "Abraham Lincoln once said, 'Don't believe everything you read on Facebook.'"

A number of online sites reported the news as fact, including Closer – who have since removed their story.