Chuck Norris Dead At 71? Facts Say Grim Reaper Failed Despite Facebook Hoax

Is Chuck Norris dead at the age of 71? Though he is getting up in the years, the Facebook post gone viral is a false claim. The viral hoax claims it isn’t a joke, and it actually isn’t, from the right perspective.

The site listed as hosting this story appeared to be legitimate, with the first part of the URL stating it as “world news” something. In the words of the Star Wars Mon Calamari Admiral Ackbar, it was a trap. The URL redirected to a spam site which hacks your Facebook login credentials and reposts the link on your wall for your friends to fall for.

In these cases, as Read Write suggests, you should change your password immediately. Not changing your password could lead to hackers using your profile to send ads to your friends and family in attempts to access their login credentials as well. This is why you may have encountered a family member sending you a private message you might consider inappropriate, such as an invite to a porn site, or offering lewd suggestions.

Naked Security’s Chester Wisniewski reported on the ease with which various pages you administrate can be taken over, and direct phishing is the main way.

“We do see scams and spams attacking pages as well, just not as frequently. Pages cannot be accessed by rogue applications the same way as a wall post. They typically require you to phish the owner of the page and have a human do the spamming. This results in [making an] effort, and let’s be fair … Scammers are lazy or they would stick with a legit job.”

When you do change your password, ex-NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has suggested that you make it as complicated as possible. “password,” “123abc” are just too easy for hackers to figure out, but if you use an unpopular phrase including numbers, capital letters, and special characters, it may slow them down.

One big indication that the Chuck Norris death hoax was fake was the fact that the actor’s Facebook page and fan pages never said anything. As the fake news title would indicate, it was a borderline Chuck Norris joke.

You’ve probably heard a bunch of them, as has Chuck himself, one time reading them out loud for an audience. These jokes found their inspiration when in almost any episode of Walker: Texas Ranger, the show’s star would end up almost deathly injured and then would get up and finish beating up the bad guys. It was very formulaic, as the henchmen usually only took one hit, while the main villains always took a few more before they reluctantly went down.

In one episode, Chuck Norris’ Cordell Walker drove his pickup truck out into the wilderness holding a time bomb with five seconds left on it. He threw it out the window a couple of seconds later, and it took over five seconds to finally explode. The show became the inspiration for “Chuck Norris facts” which made him sound tougher than any actual human being.

Some popular ones include the following list, including a few from Telegraph:

• Chuck Norris doesn’t mow the lawn. He just dares the grass to grow.
• Chuck Norris doesn’t do push-ups. He pushes the Earth down.
• Chuck Norris once arm-wrestled Superman, and the loser had to wear his underwear on the outside.
• Children hide from the Boogieman, but the Boogieman hides from Chuck Norris.
• The easiest way to determine Chuck Norris’ age is to cut him in half and count the rings.
• Chuck Norris doesn’t dial the wrong number. You answered the wrong phone.
• Chuck Norris once kicked a horse in the chin. Its descendants today are known as giraffes.
• Chuck Norris doesn’t breathe air. He holds air hostage.
• Chuck Norris can kill two stones with one bird.
• Chuck Norris can believe it’s not butter.

Have you seen the “Chuck Norris dead” post? Either way, feel free to leave your best “facts” in the comments below.

[Featured Image by s_bukley/Shutterstock]