A New York City high school student may have a skill for picking stocks, but no, he did not make $72 million, as media widely reported in recent days.

In an article published in New York magazine, Stuyvesant High School student Mohammed Islam was included in an article called "Reasons to Love New York." Islam is listed as reason no. 12, because "rumour" had it that he had made a "fortune" of $72 million on the stock market.

Islam, the son of Bengali immigrants from Queens and president of his school's investment club, told the magazine that he had been introduced to penny stocks by a cousin when he was just nine, but swore off trading after he lost the money he had earned from tutoring.

In the article, he and his friends are portrayed as mini wolves on Wall Street, with ambitions to open up their own hedge fund as soon as Islam turned 18 and could get his broker-dealer licence.

It wasn't long before other news outlets picked up the story, including the New York Post.

But in an interview with the New York Observer, Islam later admitted that he and his friends had actually made zero dollars from trading.

Islam told the Observer that he's made no money from the stock market because he doesn't actually invest. Instead, he runs his school's investment club, which only does "simulated trades."

He said the $72-million figure that's been thrown around is just a rumour, although he claims he has made even more than that on his "simulated trades."

He said his parents are furious at him for lying, and he's now staying at a friend's house, but has had trouble sleeping. Above all else, he says he's sorry for the fib.

"At school, first things first: I am incredibly sorry for any misjudgment and any hurt I caused. The people I'm most sorry for is my parents," he told the Observer. "I did something where I can no longer gain their trust."

On Tuesday, New York magazine issued an apology to its readers, noting that it had been mistaken, and that the story was apparently false.

It noted that the magazine's fact-checker had been shown bank statements showing that Islam was worth eight figures, but the validity of those statements is now in question.

"We were duped. Our fact-checking process was obviously inadequate; we take full responsibility and we should have known better," the magazine said.