Beware: Preposterous 'Death of Jim Carrey Message' Rapidly Spreading Through Social Media

From time to time social media pranksters have fun by spreading false news about a popular entertainer or well-known figure dying. In today's always-connected social network culture, the news of someone popular passing tends to spread rapidly where various sources pick up the news and spread it without any type of validation. Adware and spam peddlers are now picking up on this very technique, once used at random by the common prankster, to cash in on the credulous social media public by specifically making a claim about Jim Carrey dying in a snowboarding accident.

What better way to quickly spread a hoax on the two largest social networks in the world than to use the falsified death of a popular actor or media figure as the subject line? Jim Carrey, known for his smirky antics and funny character in many movies, is a well-known actor around the world with millions of social media followers. The recent fabricated messages of his supposed death in a snowboard accident has been the brunt of a rapidly spreading hoax mainly on Twitter and Facebook.

What appears to be shocking news posted on Twitter and Facebook pages belonging to avid Jim Carrey fans, is a message (Figure 1. Below) attempting to explain how the actor 'died shortly after a snowboard accident earlier today - December 12, 2012.' The message, or related story found on questionable blogs, is not true. Figure 1 below represents a snippet taken from a various Facebook page where the fake Jim Carrey death message has spread.

Figure 1. Fake Jim Carrey's Death Message posted and shared on a random Facebook wall.

The complete rogue message reads:

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.

Examining the fake Jim Carrey snowboarding death accident messages on Facebook, we have found that clicking on them redirects users to various URLs, some of which load repeated advertisements. Some of the ads could very well lead to scams. It remains to be seen as to if hackers will adopt the popularized method of spreading malicious links or malware through bogus messages reporting death of a popular figure. For now, it is always in your best interest to avoid such messages and to take out a minute to attempt confirm the validity of news that would otherwise be one the most popular story in the media if it were true.