Falling for celebrity death hoaxes? Here are 5 ways to avoid being duped

Like other celebrity deaths, the passing of Zahara has left many shocked. After spending weeks in hospital, many were expecting a recovery by the Loliwe hit maker only to be hit by rumours spreading the news that she had succumbed to health complications.

This issue is common after the news of a celebrity passing, which makes it difficult to deduce if there is truth to the reports. To bring light into the madness, we've put together a list of helpful tips to avoid falling for celebrity death scams and how to know when the news it true.

BOGUS WEBSITES

One way to spot a fake site that will not have reliable information can be found next to the website address. Online safety site Aura points to the little padlock seen on the left side of a URL page. You can also run the site through Google Transparency to see if it is valid.

Look for dodgy spelling mistakes and incoherent writing.

There are websites that mimic existing ones, such as our entertainment section TshisaLIVE which was the victim of a fake site that capitalised the letter “A” to differentiate itself.

CLICK BAIT

We've all seen information that seems juicy on social media but doesn't deliver on what was promised. Click bait is built to help the person who created it profit from the traffic they create by duping people. 

A common way this can be done is with bots in comment sections. ABC News warned that people should not open these links even if the links seem legit as this might be a trick to get information out of you. The links can be dangerous for multiple reasons as they will compromise your digital safety. Hackers often use celebrity deaths as a means to trick people.

SOCIAL MEDIA TREND

Depending on your sense of humour, social media trends can either be extremely funny or shockingly morbid. Take last year's Thanksgiving celebrity prank when TikTok users fooled their family members on the US holiday about their favourite stars passing away. The trend spread like wildfire with several South African users joining in. While the caption makes it clear it is a prank, it's important to understand there are people who jump on social media trends to get attention or engagement. 

If there is no supporting evidence when someone claims a public figure has died or attempts to confirm they are alive, the best thing to do is to look for reliable information that proves the claim.

SHOCKVERTISING

While pranks are made for getting a laugh, sometimes fake news uses reactions to get the clicks t they want. Fact-checking since 1994, Snopes has done detailed research about shock advertising, better known as shockvertising. An example is a YouTube ad purporting that actor Jim Carrey was dead but it was revealed it was a hoax to prompt people to Google whether the actor was alive.

The Snopes team found sites like these often bait people into reading their content dominated by fad diets or selling products that might pique interest.

EXISTING NEWS PLATFORMS

A fail-safe way to know if a celebrity has died is by checking existing news channels you know are real. This will be on their website, visual channels or social media platforms that go directly to the story.