A list of phantom hacker hoaxes on the Internet
Internet hoaxes that aim to cause alarm by claiming to warn of nefarious digital threats targeting the general public will invariably do better than other types of online hoax. And you’ll be hard pressed to find any hoax that does better than the “don’t add this hacker because he’ll hack you” brand of online misinformation.
What is fascinating about this type of hoax is that is has been active for so long, yet its variants have changed so little. While many types of hoaxes evolve significantly as the years pass by, this hoax that warns of a phantom hacker trying to add you online has remained largely the same, with only minor changes implemented as new platforms emerge.
Take, for example, Simon Ashton.
IF A PERSON CALLED SIMON ASHTON CONTACTS YOU THROUGH EMAIL DON’T OPEN THE MESSAGE. DELETE IT BECAUSE HE IS A HACKER!!
TELL EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST BECAUSE IF SOMEBODY ON YOUR LIST ADDS HIM THEN YOU WILL GET HIM ON YOUR LIST. HE WILL FIGURE OUT YOUR ID COMPUTER ADDRESS, SO COPY AND PASTE THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE EVEN IF YOU DON’T CARE FOR THEM AND FAST BECAUSE IF HE HACKS THEIR EMAIL HE HACKS YOUR MAIL TOO!!!!!……
On first glance, this may look like something you’d expect to see one of your friends copy to their status on Facebook. That is, of course, if the warning hadn’t revealed its age by mentioning email.
This hoax actually bounced around between email inboxes back in the late 1990s, perfectly demonstrating how long these phantom hacker hoaxes have been spreading. Many years before Facebook was even developed.
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These hoaxes are never based on truth. If hackers were using a well-publicised account to spread their malicious wares, such accounts would naturally be terminated in short order. Additionally, merely adding someone on the Internet, whether it’s a Facebook friend, an email contact or a Messenger contact, isn’t enough to get yourself “hacked”.
We archive the most common hacker warning hoaxes, from past and present. If you’ve encountered one online, it’s probably listed here. This list will be updated when other popular variants arise.
Identity of “hacker” – Date first seen – Platform
Simon Ashton/[email protected] – 1996 – Email/MSN Messenger
[email protected] – 2002 – MSN Messenger
[email protected] – 2004 – MSN Messenger
[email protected] – 2005 – MSN Messenger
[email protected] – 2007 – Facebook/Email
Jason/Amy Allen – 2011 – Unspecified/Facebook
Linda Smith – 2011 – Unspecified/Facebook
Jason Lee – 2011 – Unspecified/Facebook
Christopher/Jessica Butterfield – 2012 – Facebook
Christopher/Jessica Davies – 2012 – Facebook
Raquel Critelli/Kelly Hargrove – 2012 – Facebook
“Maggie from Sweden” – 2014 – Facebook
Tanner Dwyer – 2015 – Facebook
Roland Dreyer/Matthias Damberger – 2016 – Facebook
Mario Sommer/Fabian Berneder – 2016 – Facebook
Jayden K Smith – 2017 – Facebook
James Wood – 2017 – Facebook
Fabrizio Brambilla – 2017 – Facebook
Anwar Jitou – 2017 – Facebook
Lizzie Borden – 2017 – Facebook
Nuran Katikoy – 2017 – Facebook
Frederc Pretty – 2017 – Facebook
Godwin Anni/Emeka Anni/Godwin Enyi – 2017 – Facebook
Andrea Wilson – 2017 – Facebook
Magnus Falkerup – 2018 – Facebook
Sherman Stuurman – 2018 – Facebook
Lucia Hernandez – 2018 – Facebook
Prince Obinna Solomon – 2020 – Facebook
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