This man has been the victim of cyber harassment.
With police shootings and with terrorist attacks, no longer do we wait for official news about the ones who died. Social media lets us in on the details often while the violence is unfolding, as bystanders post images and video of those events.
Be vigilant about the truth, though.
There is one man whose "death is greatly exaggerated." According to social media, he was a victim of the bombing at Ataturk Airport in Istanbul. He also died in the EgyptAir crash, the Pulse nightclub shooting, and more.
It's a troll of one man. Who is he? France 24 Observers, a news agency in France, says it has tracked down the man who has been victimized.
“He’s a young guy who lives in Mexico,” says France 24 Observers Editor Gaëlle Faure. “He’s alive and well.”
France 24 ran a reverse image search on Google to track down previous times his face had been used. And their team started contacting people who were posting his photos all over the place. The team asked a basic question. “Why are you sharing this guy’s photo?” she says.
It turns out, the people posting the photos were friends of a former friend of the guy. They claim the photographed man owed their friend money. The guys eventually led France 24 to their former friend. When he talked with France 24, he said that yes, indeed there was an issue with money. “And that these acquaintances had been trolling him relentlessly ever since,” France 24's Faure says.
The man has never filed a complaint about the cyber harassment. “He said he hasn’t because he says he didn’t think it would go anywhere and he didn’t seem to have much faith in the Mexican judicial system,” Faure says.
Chances are good his image will pop up during the next terror attack.
Faure says to prevent yourself from being fooled, always do a reverse image search before you retweet or post. “It’s really simple to do,” Faure says.
Here's a how-to from Google.