Social media posts claiming celebrated novelist and Nobel Prize winner Kazuo Ishiguro has died, are fake with the hoax originating from a fake Twitter account impersonating publishing house Faber Books.
The account, which was set up to look like Faber Books, was allegedly made by Tommaso DeBenedetti, an Italian national who is notorious for creating death hoaxes of famous people, to trick media outlets.
Ishiguro recently released the novel 'Klara and the Sun', his first since being awarded the Nobel Prize in 2017. He has been awarded several times for various works including Never Let Me Go, The Remains of The Day. The 67-year-old author lives in Britain and also writes screenplays.
The imposter account @faberbooksuk on Tuesday tweeted that Penguin Random House and Faber Books announces the sudden death of Kazuo Ishiguro with a photo of the author. The tweet was later deleted but a screenshot of the archived version can be seen below.
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The death hoax was also carried by Indian Express in a web story titled 'Author Kazuo Ishiguro passes away at 67,' citing the tweet from the fake account as the source.
Indian Express has since deleted the story without an explanation. An archive can be viewed here
The death hoax also went viral on Twitter with several authors and verified handles tweeting condolence messages.
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FACT CHECK
BOOM found that the account that tweeted the hoax about Kazio Ishiguro's death was impersonating Faber Books, the publishing house based in London.
The fake account @FaberBooksUK had nearly 16000 followers before it was deleted.
The original Twitter account of Faber Books is verified and the handle is @FaberBooks.
The fake account @FaberBooksUK before deleting claimed that the news was false and that the account was started by Tommaso Debenedetti, an Italian national who routinely creates death hoaxes of famous personalities.
Screenshot of the tweet can be seen below
According to news reports, Tommaso De Benedetti a school teacher in Rome has earlier falsely tweeted about the deaths of the Pope, Fidel Castro and has also created fake accounts in the name of Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea. In an interview of published by The Guardian in 2012, Bendetti said, "Twitter works well for deaths". In the same interview, Benedetti added that he created fake accounts under names of various world leaders and posted fake news. "I wanted to see how weak the media was in Italy...The Italian press never checks anything, especially if it is close to their political line".