Hollywood film actor Johnny Depp, well-known for his role in Edward Scissor hands, Sleepy Hollow and Pirates of the Caribbean, becomes the unsuspecting star of an internet hoax which increase extensively this weekend.
Blameless internet user were fooled by the hoax, dispersal messages to their online friends that the popular film star, who lives in France with his partner Vanessa Paradis, had come to a sad end at the side of a road in Bordeaux. The bogus information claim that the 46-year-old actor had die in a drunken car crash, often connecting to a webpage which apparently restricted a CNN news report, including a photograph of the wreckage.
Though, the webpage (despite appearance to the casual browser) wasn’t in fact on CNN’s website at all.
Fraction of the report reads:
Johnny Depp’s car was found alongside a road exterior Bordeaux, France, with the protector rail entrenched deep in the car.
A tourist was heavy downward the road when he saw a car wreck alongside the road. He step out and try to see if anybody was in there as his wife dialed the police for help.
To his disappointment, he found the body in the car among liquor bottles.
The police arrived at the scene shortly after and pulled out the body of the former actor, Johnny Depp.
Many people forwarded on messages about Depp’s death making “Johnny Depp RIP” a trending topic on Twitter, which helped to fuel the rumour and spread it even further and faster. The only problem was, inevitably, that the people hadn’t checked their facts before passing on the news. Johnny Depp, I’m delighted to report, hasn’t died in a car crash. In addition, as you can see in the video below, hackers have taken advantage of the situation – spreading malware on sites claiming to contain footage of Johnny Depp’s car crash
