Fraudulent Audi TT-RS Teaser Image Dead Before Surfacing

If you came across what you thought was a teaser shot of the Audi TT-RS, scheduled to be officially unveiled in Geneva, be advised that while the car itself is real, the image is a fake perpetrated by an unknown hoaxer claiming to be an "Audi insider."

Observant readers had no trouble spotting the fake, as the photo of the purported TT-RS is clearly a first-generation TT with an optional spoiler. The Photoshop-job wasn't convincing enough to make it onto Worldcarfans; our editors were suspicious when it arrived, and iMotor confirmed the hoax this morning. We suspect we've seen the work of this person before. The M.O. of the fraudulent release is similar to that of a VW Scirocco hoax that made the rounds of the web.

Alas, it looks like official images of the TT-RS will have to wait until Audi's Geneva press conference on March 3, not March 5 as the teaser image states, which is when the show opens to the public.