Faking online death
It’s quite easy to fake one’s death online (well, at least considerably easier than in the physical world) and apparently a surprisingly large number of people are doing so, as Wired UK reports:
In two investigations between 2007 and 2009, I encountered countless examples of fake deaths in all corners of the online world. [...]
A LiveJournal community, known as fake_lj_deaths, has more than 6,000 members committed to investigating suspicious “deaths” reported on the social networking site. The sleuths are motivated by a desire to spare credulous readers the all-too-real grief and bereavement over the imaginary passing of a sometimes-imaginary friend. “I would venture only one in ten deaths that we are asked about turns out not to be fake,” said Anne Soffee, the moderator of fake_lj_deaths, the community that has investigated, and exposed, hundreds of such frauds.
The most likely motivation for faking your own death online? Drama whoring of course.
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