Mercedes were allegedly scammed by a 28-year-old man with a Lewis Hamilton fan account on social media called ‘CenturionLewis’. On Twitter, the man was posing as an avid fan of the seven-time world champion and as a 20-year-old boy, tragically suffering from terminal cancer.
In March earlier this year, he posted about his worsening battle with cancer, stating:
“My cancer has not reduced but has started to spread around my body, I had emergency radiotherapy treatment and went home and then had multiple severe seizures and now admitted into hospital, potentially surgery to come.”
Earlier in July, he even claimed to have gotten into a near-fatal car crash, gathering plenty of sympathy from others on social media. These posts caught the attention of Mercedes, who reportedly invited him to Brackley to tour the factories and watch the 2022 F1 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Later in July, he announced that Mercedes had given him the opportunity to visit the team in Brackley, posting:
“IM GOING TO BRACKLEY. Thank you so much @MercedesAMGF1 you really are the most incredible people and I love you even more now.”
Two days later, it was announced on the ‘CenturionLewis’ Twitter account that he had passed away. As a result, tributes flooded social media.
The tweet announcing the account holder’s alleged demise read:
“Hello everybody Just to let you know, Centurion Lewis passed away peacefully this evening after having a sudden decline in his health today, he asked me to update you all, I’m sorry it’s not better news One of the last things he said was everybody needs to spread more love.”
Mercedes, too, posted their condolences to the account holder after the announcement was made.
However, in a shocking turn of events, a few days later it was revealed that everything about this Twitter account was fake. The account holder, allegedly named “Liam T”, is in fact a 28-year-old man working as a hospital porter. He has two children and has not suffered from cancer or the supposed car accident. Most importantly, Liam is alive and well.
@CenturionLewis Liam is working as a hospital porter and not as a railroad worker, nor was he involved in the car crash. Liam also doesn’t have terminal cancer – not that we knew what kind of cancer he allegedly had to start with. Liam is, in fact – ALIVE and, most importantly, well.
As soon as the news broke, Mercedes immediately took down their posts regarding Liam’s supposed death. The 28-year-old not only tricked the team into an exclusive tour and access to the Hungarian Grand Prix but also benefited off a GoFundMe campaign after gaining sympathies for undergoing cancer treatments. This took social media by storm, and Liam shut down all of his pages across the internet.
@CenturionLewis Liam also never went offline; he started using another account, kindly DMing us with fake information and messages of support… So please report his profile as well: @AFCxLT.
Some speculate that while Liam took down his ‘CenturionLewis’ page, he is still present on social media using other fake accounts.
Michael Masi realizing he’s no longer the most hated man in Formula 1 after Centurion Lewis
Michael Masi realizing he’s no longer the most hated man in Formula 1 after CenturionLewis https://t.co/5yJpP46IXE
Check out the entire thread revealing the fake account below:
I posted my @Centurionlewis thread a week ago. Since then, I’ve been a target of constant attacks, death threats, and much more. Let’s meet the person behind the @Centurionlewis profile – Liam.
Coming soon!
