Slightly worse than the other phenomenon, the misqoute... I got one recently that attributed a rant entitled "83 and Tired" to Bill Cosby (he's 78 and American, and internal evidence suggests the actual speaker is Canadian or British.) But the greatly- exaggerated- reports- of- death are just as rude... the most famous example, I think, is a child actor who played "Mikey" on a cereal ad when I was young. He was supposed to have died from eating Pop-Rocks candy and drinking soda. He's still alive though, and I have no idea whether he ever even tried Pop-Rocks....

Remember those few days the other year when Sean Connery was supposed to have died?