14 DAY TRIAL // Another celebrity has become the victim of a death hoax. This time it’s retired professional football player Joseph Clifford "Joe" Montana.
According to hoax messages circulating on social media websites, Montana died in a car crash. The links from these posts direct to a news article that reads the following:
“Pro football player Joe Montana is confirmed to have died in a single vehicle car accident. One other male passenger in the 2012 BMW driven by Joe Montana has been transported to a local California hospital and is reported to be in serious condition.”
The news article might seem legit at first sight. However, as Hoax Slayer highlights, it’s actually posted on a hoax site that's specially designed to allow users to fabricate such stories. In the past it has been used to spread Tom Cruise and Justin Bieber death hoaxes.
The bottom line is that Joe Montana is not dead. However, Internet users are advised to verify the legitimacy of a story before spreading it via email and social media networks.
This might be a simple hoax, but it’s a type of story that cybercriminals might leverage to spread malware. If users spread these types of hoaxes, they might also be inclined to take part in the distribution of other, more malicious scams.