The fallacy of false attribution to authority occurs when an arguer wrongly asserts that a relevant authority supports the arguer's position. When this fallacy occurs, either the authority does not really assert the opinion purported by the arguer, or in extreme cases, the authority does not exist at all.

Here is an example:

Where the referenced study shows that the University has an 80% job placement rate, but does not break it down by department: ​"Our Art Department has a high rate of graduates finding a job in six months -- over 80% according to an official study linked here."

Usually, the arguer constructs this fallacy in such a way that makes it possible for the audience not to notice that the authority does not actually hold the attested opinion (or does not actually exist). A common technique is to add a footnote or a hyperlink to a text, which leads to a non-existent source, or to a document containing a different position than the one which the footnote or link is supposed to support. Many readers will not check the footnotes or follow the links with enough diligence to catch the fallacy.