A music store owner in Kingsport, Tenn., had what he thought was the perfect plan to drum up business and deter break-ins at the same time: He'd have someone pretend to rob the store, then heroically pull his gun while the fake perp played dead. All he had to was post the security footage online, and the prank would definitely "go viral."

It worked, sort of. The video is modestly popular, making the local news and pulling 750,000 views on World Star Hip Hop. On the other hand, it also caught the attention of the Kingsport police, who wondered why what appeared to be a robbery attempt was never reported.

When officers first interviewed him, Kingsport police told WCYB, Tennessee Sounds owner Victor Jenkins told them there had actually been a robber: "He said a person really did come into our store with a knife, I really did pull out a gun." He said he'd never called them because nothing was taken.

But once they discovered he had lied, police considered charging Jenkins with false reporting (a spokesperson says it's not likely they'll do so because he wasn't deliberating trying to cause harm.)

"It has probably hurt me more than it's ever done for somebody else," Jenkins said. "Once it's done, there's nothing you can do about it. You are known for that one lie."

The backfired publicity attempt was cooked up by one of his employees, online marketing manager Alex Johnson. It's not clear whether Johnson still works for the store, but as of last week, he was attempting to parlay the stunt into an internet marketing venture called Viral Veediuh.

The fake robbery is still up on Johnson's channel, now labeled as a "social experiment prank."

[h/t Heavy]