Thousands of unassuming social media users fell for it.
A message from an alarmed friend arrives via any communication app from Twitter to WhatsApp to iOS Messages. It carries a dire warning on the Coronavirus or an alert of a major COVID-19 news story. The Tube is about to close in London. The feds are going to shut the financial institutions to avoid a run on the banks. New York is about to disallow all automotive traffic.
To learn the details, you’re offered a link.
Fake social media alerts like this lead users to a pornographic image of an adult male in an ongoing ... [+]
That click takes you to a full frontal nude photograph of a large African American man with a significant endowment. Shock and hilarity ensue. Unfortunately, the man featured in the photograph is reportedly no longer with us to defend himself against the gag.
Some dedicated digging by journalist Alex Zaragoza at Vice identified the late gentleman from photos on a pornographic site for older homosexual men. While there’s no indication of his legal name might be, he went by Wood in that world.
According to Pantheon Productions, the original source of the photograph identified by Zaragoza, the man known as Wood died several years ago. The trail ends there.
Who was Wood? We don’t know. Is he really dead? Your guess is as good as anyone else’s. Should we all stop sending surprise dick pics to each other and get about doing something useful with our time during a virus that’s crippling our society?
Yes.
