Will Smith is dead. At least that's what the Internet is saying. However the "Fresh Prince" didn't die. He's just the victim of an Internet death hoax.
Rumors started swirling this week that the famous actor died. Some have come across mentions of his death on Facebook. A Facebook post reads "RIP Will Smith 1968-2013." The post claims that he died during surgery. Hoax Slayer advises people to not click any links relating to this as it leads to a rogue applications that will spread the scam around by posting it to other's pages.
The scam reads "Hollywood Press: Will Smith has just been pronounced dead after undergoing an immediate spinal surgery caused by an accident while filming Hancock 2 (2014). The negligence of the doctor with medication overdose was blamed to be the cause of his death. Watch the full video of CCTV cam installed in the operating room where he was admitted: [Link Removed]."
"Those who fall for the ruse and click the link will be taken to an application page and asked to give an app permission to access their accounts and post on their behalf. Once they have installed the app, a pop-up window will be displayed that claims that they must download a "Facebook media plugin" before they can view the supposed footage of the operation. Downloading the bogus plugin will install malicious software on the user's computer.
And, of course, no matter how many plugins users download, they will never get to see the promised footage, which never existed to begin with," Hoax Slayer says.
Others may have come across a supposed news reports by Glocal Associated News which reads, "Actor Will Smith died while filming a movie in New Zealand early this morning - October 29, 2013. 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)."
This report is also false as Global Associated News created fake reports from a generator. A message at the bottom of the site reads, "FAKE... THIS STORY IS 100% FAKE! this is an entertainment website, and this is a totally fake article based on zero truth and is a complete work of fiction for entertainment purposes! this story was dynamically generated using a generic 'template' and is not factual. Any reference to specific individuals has been 100% fabricated by web site visitors who have created fake stories by entering a name into a blank 'non-specific' template for the purpose of entertainment."
rumor has spread to other social media sites and fans have taken to Twitter to mourn and question the death. Some examples of tweets include:
"Is Will Smith really dead?"
"Hooooollllllddd up. is will smith actually dead? #woah"
"So, I'm hearing that Will Smith died like wtf"
"Will Smith died Bruh!"
"RIP WILL SMITH."
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
