[FACT OR FAKE #51] Is Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson Dead?
According to reports being circulated on Internet, Dwayne Johnson, who is also known as the Rock, is dead. The reports claim that Johnson died in New Zealand after he met with an accident. What's the story behind reports?
By Sadho Ram — 27 Apr 2014, 08:24 PM — Updated about 10 years ago
About couple of weeks ago, a report stated that actor Dwayne Johnson 'The Rock' died while filming a movie in New Zealand. The report said:
"Actor Dwayne Johnson died while filming a movie in New Zealand early this morning. Preliminary reports from New Zealand Police officials indicate that the actor fell more than 60 feet to his death on the Kauri Cliffs while on-set. Specific details are not yet available. The accident occurred at approximately 4:30 a.m. (UTC/GMT +12)."
mediafetcher.comEven a Facebook page title "R.I.P. Dwayne Johnson" was created which posted a message, saying:
"At about 11 am ET on Wednesday (9 April 2014), our beloved actor Dwayne Johnson passed away. Dwayne Johnson was born on 2 May 1972 in Hayward. He will be missed, but not forgotten. Please show your sympathy and condolences by commenting on and liking this page," according to mediamass.com.
ibtimes.co.inMeanwhile, according to one another message currently going viral on Facebook, 'The Rock' died during filming for the movie "Fast and Furious 7"
The R.I.P. message, which features a photograph of Dwayne, claims that the star died while performing a dangerous movie stunt. The message invites users to click the image to see a video of the accident.
theepochtimes.com
Fans immediately started writing their messages of condolence on the Facebook page, expressing their sadness that the talented 41-year-old actor was dead
Several Johnson fans believed the news and posted condolence messages on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.
ibtimes.co.inSo, what happened? Is 'The Rock' really dead? If not, how come there are reports about his death?
FAKE: No, 'Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is NOT dead. The reports about his death are nothing but mere hoaxes generated to dupe social media users.
Dwayne Johnson is alive and well. Clicking the message takes users to a bogus Facebook Page that supposedly hosts the accident video. But, when they attempt to play the video, users are told that they must first share the message on Facebook. Via this mechanism, the scammers ensure that their bogus message reaches a wide audience and continues to circulate.
hoax-slayer.com
On Thursday 10 April, the actor’s representatives officially confirmed that 'The Rock' is not dead
“He joins the long list of celebrities who have been victimized by this hoax. He’s still alive and well, stop believing what you see on the Internet,” they said.
sportskeeda.com
Meanwhile, 'The Rock' did not address the death hoax reports, he did posted an Instagram video of him working out in a gym
Scammers probably created these hoaxes to get web traffic to particular websites, which are then sold to other scammers, who can use them for more scams
After sharing as instructed, users will be taken to another page that again supposedly hosts the video. But, users will now be told that they must perform further actions before they can see the video. They may be told that they must fill in one or more surveys, ostensibly to verify their age or show that they are human.
theepochtimes.com
Or, they may be asked to install rogue apps that will send out spam and scam messages to all of their friends. In some instances, users may be tricked into adding malicious extensions to their web browsers or downloading malware. But, even if they obey all of the instructions on the scam pages, users will never get to see the promised video, which never existed to begin with.
hoax-slayer.com
This isn’t the first time 'The Rock' has been falsely rumoured dead
In May 2011, a similar report surfaced online, which claimed almost exactly the same thing about his supposed death. According to the “news,” he had an accident on the set of a movie while in New Zealand.
“I would love to meet the person who is starting rumours of my death – to show them how a dead foot feels up their ass,” he addressed the claim on Twitter.
Facebook already warns its users to stay away from posts that contains suspicious contents. Be wary of any post that claims that a celebrity has died and invites you to click a link to watch a video or read a news report.
The death of a celebrity is always widely reported by the mainstream media, so a quick check of a news portal such as Google News should reveal if a circulating death story is true or false.
hoax-slayer.com