Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Is the Avi Ben Stella car crash a hoax, or a real child in trouble?
Facebook and Twitter are now blanketed with status updates from people posting notices similar to the following:
“PRAYERS NEEDED for 12yr old Avi Ben Stella who, after a serious car crash, is now in a critical coma. Pls. change your status for 1 hr so more people can become aware and... add to the prayers. We would do it for your son, pls. do this for somebody else's son.”
Is it possible that this is a request for prayers for a real child who is in trouble? Yes, it is possible. But is it likely? Probably not.
The internet abounds with bogus viral messages like the Avi Ben Stella post, which take off and seem to take on a life of their own. Most of the time, the stories are simply untrue. Some are mere pranks, while others have a more malicious intent.
A search through news sites yields no stories about a child named Avi Ben Stella being injured in a car accident. Snopes.com has the story classified as “undetermined” as of the writing of this article, and indicates the story has been floating around since mid-August 2009. Google indicates that this is one of the most highly searched stories on the internet, and yet no one can find anything to verify it is true.
According to another Examiner, threads on the name Avi Ben Stella eventually lead to a page which tries to load malware on your computer. This seems like the most likely explanation of the story's origin.
Before forwarding messages and asking people to pray for children you don't actually know, check out the story on Snopes.com or through legitimate news websites. Otherwise, while you are praying and recruiting prayer volunteers, someone else will be having a laugh at your expense – and maybe downloading spyware on computers in the process.
And if the story of Avi Ben Stella is true, someone with proof of its truth needs to come forward and set the record straight.
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