Hoaxers give Steve Jobs a heart attack

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 23 Jan 2009 at 10:47

A Wired news story claiming that Apple boss Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack has been dismissed as a fake.

The hoaxer exploited a feature on Wired's website, which allowed anyone to upload images on a Wired.com page, thus giving the fake news story a genuine URL and Wired banner.

The fake story was then distributed by email, and was subsequently circulated on services such as Twitter.

Yet, despite its authentic appearance, the fake story lacked credibility in a number of other ways - not least its appalling spelling and grammar.

The headline read "Steve Jobs in has had a Cardiac Arrest", while both Palo Alto and Ambulance were misspelt.

The story also claimed that there was a "sombre mood surrounding sever of the Apple board".

Wired has patched its website to prevent literate hoaxers pulling off a more convincing fake in the future.