Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) seems to be one of those celebrities who fall into a death hoax trap on the reg – and he’s once again been at the mercy of the internet grim reaper. Mr Bean is the poor fellow who is often killed off prematurely by trolls and this week a hoax, which began circulating last year, seemed to be doing the rounds once more.
A very fake report, supposedly from Fox News, claimed the star died in a crash while attempting a stunt (complete with telltale RIP message) as it prompts a gullible viewer to click on the link.
And if you do click on the message in a minute of faux grief, you will be diverted to a ‘security message’ that will claim your computer has been locked and in order to unlock it you must ring a support number. Whoever answers will then try and coax your credit card details out of you.
Seriously, this ‘news banner’ even says ‘2017’. The date should give away the fact this is bogus. However, it hasn’t stopped many on social media from circulating the ‘news’ and sharing their grief at apparently ‘losing’ the star – with some fresh ‘2018’ edits being whipped up. So a lot of people have fell and are continuing to fall for this trick today, which means the whole thing has resurfaced a year after initially terrorising our browsing time as it trends worldwide. But this isn’t even the second time we’ve been (nearly) duped into thinking the Johnny English actor is dead, after an initial hoax took hold in 2016.