Modern Crime: Is This A Vast Government Conspiracy or Just A Simple Story About Revenge?

This is a really good object lesson in adhering to the old adage by Edgar Allen Poe:

“Believe only HALF of what you SEE and NOTHING that you HEAR.” -SF

Who is this man who seems to die in every terrorist attack?

 

If you’ve clicked on any articles about the victims of recent terror attacks, you might have seen this man’s photo. Following the deadly terrorist attack at Atatürk airport in Istanbul, Turkey, social media users shared his photo, claiming this man was among the 42 people killed. His photo was also shared online after the EgyptAir crash last month and, once again, he was believed to be a victim.

This same mysterious man made it onto the lists of victims of the shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida on June 12. His photo was even included in a New York Times video showing images of the victims.

And that’s not all. This man’s photo pops up in connection with all sorts of different tragedies. On June 19, for example, Mexican police shot at a crowd of people protesting against education reform, killing at least eight people. Social media users shared his photo again, only this time they claimed that he was the official who ordered the police to shoot.

After the EgyptAir crash, several media outlets, including the BBC, saw through this scam and reported that Internet trolls had been putting up fake posts about crash victims, apparently to trick the media. Though BBC journalists said that this man did not really die in the EgyptAir crash, they weren’t able to identify who he was or establish how his photo ended up online. They did, however, note that the social media accounts that first shared posts about this man being a victim in the crash were all based in Mexico.

Intrigued, FRANCE 24’s Observers set out to find out more.

Read the Remainder at France 24