Whenever something becomes as popular as quickly as Pokemon Go has, all kinds of urban legends, hoaxes and scams tend to result. In this case, it doesn’t help that a ton of unbelievable yet true stories connected to the game have flooded the airwaves. For example, a teen actually did stumble upon a dead body while playing, and thieves really did target Pokemon Go users. How do you separate the reality from the bull? To get things started, here’s a quick rundown of the Pokemon Go stories you shouldn’t believe.
Uber Driver Didn’t Witness A Murder While Playing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsAUpYH04pY&feature=youtu.be&t=6h24m35s
A few days ago, YouTuber AlexRamiGaming was livestreaming Pokemon Go while making his Uber rounds, and, apparently, witnessed somebody dropping a dead body out of a vehicle in front of a church. Viewers hear Alex react in panic on the stream and call the police. It’s an effectively creepy moment, but it’s also totally fake. Police in Beaumont, Texas, Alex’s hometown, say no body was ever found. Meanwhile, the Uber driver’s account has since been suspended for playing Pokemon Go while on the job.
Paying $13 Won’t Get You A Better Version of the Game
Since launch, Pokemon Go‘s servers have, understandably, been under serious strain. Most of the time, the game simply isn’t working. Unfortunately, scammers have seized the opportunity to send players emails claiming “a need for more powerful servers” means Pokémon Go must charge a $12.99 monthly fee. Pay up, or your account will be locked within 24 hours! This is obvious bunk, but if your grandparents are playing Pokemon Go, you may want to warn them. Just in case.
No One Caused A Traffic Pileup While Trying To Catch Pikachu
Of all the hoaxes, this one may have got the most, er, traffic. As the story goes, a Boston man parked his car in the middle of a busy highway, causing a massive pileup. Why? Because that elusive Eevee waits for no man. According to the dedicated Internet fact-checkers at Snopes, the story is a total fabrication.
A Teen Didn’t Kill His Brother For Deleting His Pokemans
Apparently, a 15-year-old boy with the very fake-sounding name of Timmy Richards stabbed his younger brother to death because he thought he’d deleted his Pokemon Go data. Turns out, the brother had just logged him out of the app! Oh, the bittter made-up irony! Like our last hoax, this story was created by a not-funny-whatsoever “satirical” website. So yeah, if you see any crazy Pokemon Go stories, maybe check the url before you get too excited.
The Police Are Not Targeting Pokemon Go Players
Over the past few days, this image has been making the rounds…
These are real signs in Australia, which warn when police are actively looking for various driving infractions like speeding and drunk-driving. So it’s at least somewhat believable that they may be looking for people playing Pokemon Go on their phones while driving. (They would have nabbed the Uber guy we talked about!) In reality, the “Police Are Now Targeting” signs are a bit of a meme down under, with people Photoshopping all sorts of high-larious things into the space at the bottom. That’s all this is, but still, don’t Pokemon and drive.
The Simpsons Didn’t Predict Pokemon Go
For whatever reason, people love when it turns out The Simpsons predicted some major cultural phenomenon. Remember how crazy everybody went when The Simpsons did Donald Trump as president first? Well, this picture seems to prove The Simpsons also did Pokemon Go.
Sadly, it’s just a Photoshop. Here’s where the original shot of Homer pointing towards a corner came from. Note the lack of a cellphone and Pikachu.
That’s all we have for now, but remember, if it smells like Pokecrap, it probably is. Seen any particularly iffy Pokemon Go stories I didn’t list here? Call ’em out in the comments.