Scorpions drummer Mikkey Dee has taken to social media to refute reports of his death.
News of Dee's "demise" was reported by at least two sites that rely on fake news to generate traffic, then benefit from fans' apparent eagerness to share tragic stories without checking the veracity of the information. The stories were subsequently shared on a number of Scorpions fan pages on Facebook.
"I am very much alive and kicking, although angry as a MF!" wrote the former Mötorhead man, sharing a screen grab of one of the stories. "How low can you go, you absolute pest of a human being!? This is so inappropriate and potentially harmful.
"Spreading rumours that I have died is wrong on so many levels. Let's keep reporting these bastards and let's put some pressure on Facebook to deal with this problem."
Fake death stories have become increasingly commonplace on Facebook. Some are commerce-based models, collecting ad revenue on news pages running fake obituaries, while others are phishing scams, directing readers to fake Facebook login pages in order to harvest their password details.
The news stories are usually written by AI and posted on sites that publish a high volume of stories in the hope that some will gain traction and be widely shared. The pages might be taken down after a few hours, but the ad revenue generated by thousands of clicks can be significant.
Earlier this month, one of the websites carrying news of Dee's "death" reported that former Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore had died, while another reported that he had been rushed to hospital. Both stories were fake. Meanwhile, another site carrying Dee's "obituary" is also reporting the "deaths" of former Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour and former Yes and King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford.
