If a recent social media news is to be believed, then the famous ‘Face-Off’ actor Nicolas Cage is dead! This, however, is a complete hoax.
Online scammers have a knack to misuse human emotions as a cash cow. A case in point are the celebrity death hoaxes. Earlier, we had published a post warning our readers about a death hoax that was revolving around the famous WWE star ‘The Rock’. This time, it is Nicolas Cage who seems to have died (again) in a motorcycle accident, according to a news post on Facebook. The post looks like this:
Image source: https://www.hoax-slayer.net
The Truth about Nicolas Cage Death Hoax
The Ghost Rider star is not dead and as confirmed by genuine sources, he is busy with his upcoming films “Snowden” and “The Croods2”. This is not the first time that Cage has been subjected to a death hoax. Back in 2013, it was rumored that he had died in a snowboarding accident in Switzerland.
What happens if you click on the news post to find out more?
The fake news post looks like it has been sourced from a famous news channel. The accident depicted in the image above occurred in San Diego back in 2011 and is not related to Nicolas Cage. Any unsuspecting user (especially if they are his fan), however, would believe otherwise.
If you click on this post, you will be redirected to a malicious website. Once you are there, you will get several pop-up windows claiming that your computer is infected and that you should run an antivirus scan by clicking on a button. If you click it, the scan result will throw a list of viruses that are purportedly hiding in your computer. You will be then asked to pay a fee in order to download a software that will get rid of all these viruses. This, however, is a classic scam technique to trick users into downloading a fake antivirus software.
The site that you may get redirected to may also seem to have footages of the road accident. Clicking on them, however, will most likely install a spyware (a malicious program that steals personal information) on your computer or take you to another fake website where it can steal your personal or banking information.
What should you do?
Breaking news about celebrities and famous people never fails to pique the interest of users. And this is where we must be prudent.
• Never click or share any news posts claiming that a famous person has passed away, no matter how real it may sound. Confirm such news from trusted and genuine websites. If such a news is real, it is sure to air on the television too.
• Consider installing a reliable antivirus that can automatically block fake and harmful websites before you can access them.
If you too have come across any such hoaxes on the Internet, do let us know so that we can alert our other readers about it. Stay safe!
Sources:
https://www.hoax-slayer.net/nicolas-cage-is-not-dead-fake-death-message-opens-scam-websites/
https://www.ibtimes.co.in
