Sophos Cloud Optix
Messages have spread across social networks today claiming that film actor Jim Carrey has been killed in a snowboarding accident.
Fans of the actor have been tweeting how sad they are to hear the news, and sharing links on sites like Facebook to a news report about the film star’s death.
However, the news story is baloney – and anyone who spreads the link has been duped by a new variant of a hoax that we have seen many times before.
Yes, if you click on the link you do see what appears to be a breaking news story about Jim Carrey’s death.
But no, the story is not true.
Actor Jim Carrey is reported to have died shortly after a snowboard accident earlier today - December 12, 2012.
The actor & novice snowboarder was vacationing at the Zermatt ski resort in Zermatt, Switzerland with family and friends. Witnesses indicate that Jim Carrey lost control of his snowboard and struck a tree at a high rate of speed.
Jim Carrey was air lifted by ski patrol teams to a local hospital, however, it is believed that the actor died instantly from the impact of the crash. The actor was wearing a helmet at the time of the accident and drugs and alcohol do not appear to have played any part in his death.
Remember almost two years ago, when a similar message spread claiming that actor Christian Slater had died in a snowboarding accident? Strangely enough, that was said to have happened in Zermatt too.
The truth, of course, is that neither Jim Carrey nor Christian Slater are dead.
And Tom Cruise is alive and kicking.
Adam Ant, the 1980s pop star? He’s alive too, and didn’t come to a sticky end on a jetski – despite what you may have read on the internet.
Oh, and Johnny Depp hasn’t died in a car crash, and that’s also true for Emma Watson and Kanye West too.
The list goes on..
Of course, the huge number of people sharing the link won’t have done any harm at all for the website – which presumably is earning revenue from the adverts plastered alongside its fictional news report.
Always think carefully before believing breaking news that someone has shared with you on the net. If a major news outlet has not confirmed it to be true, it’s possible that you could be falling for a confidence trick.
Just imagine the harm that could occur if there was malware lying in wait at the end of that salacious news story link?
Stay safe people – and check the legitimate news websites for breaking news, rather than believing everything you read on the net.
Jim Carrey image from Shutterstock.
Heh, this one's been around since at least 2006. I remember seeing it with Dane Cook back dying in New Zealand back then.
This particular site is fairly harmless, a way to prank your friends (though that's not to say they all are). They have a few different stories you can attach to whatever name you want. Possibly the biggest giveaway on this one is that the celebrity's name is a subdomain, something no legitimate news site would ever do (and you can put in whatever name you want by changing the url).
You can tell it’s a fake by scrolling ALL THE WAY DOWN. It tells you that its for entertainment purposes only.
your mistaken many were wondering if it were possible he could be killed in a snowboarding accident it was our wish not a question.
RIP meme's have been flooding Facebook for sometime to the point whenever I see someone post RIP <insert celebrity name> I know they are alive and well.