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A viral story about a couple who apparently found out they were twins through IVF appears to be fake.

The article was published by the 'Mississippi Herald' on Thursday and was soon picked up by news outlets around the world, including mirror.co.uk

It claimed a man and a woman found out they were biological twins after a routine DNA test at a fertility clinic.

The story, which had no byline, reportedly came from an unnamed doctor who worked at an unnamed clinic in Jackson, Mississippi.

However, suspicions were quickly raised by readers online who could find no evidence of a newspaper called the Mississippi Herald.

(Image: Getty) (Image: Getty)

MirrorOnline has now spoken to the Mississippi Sun-Herald, a daily newspaper based in Biloxi which has been in circulation since 1884.

Night editor Kim Anderson said: "There is not a Mississippi Herald.

"Our web editor is aware of this story and the Mississippi Herald appears to be the only source of this news."

"We've certainly never heard of the Mississippi Herald, there's certainly no bricks and mortar building to my knowledge.

"We suspect it's a fake news story."

Other factors also indicate a fake news story.

The Mississippi Herald appears to have first began publishing news stories this week on April 10.

There is no phone number, email address or physical address to contact the 'newspaper'.

The domain www.mississippiherald.com was only registered on November 2 last year.

MirrorOnline has asked for a comment via a generic contact form.

An identical story also appeared in the 'Denver Inquirer' on December 10, 2016.

The Inquirer's website design is almost identical in design and layout and does not have any method of being contacted.