Chinese farmer claims he killed an alien, gets arrested for perpetuating hoax

InterAksyon.com reports that "authorities arrested a farmer in China after claiming he had killed an alien." He then uploaded a video clip on YouTube purportedly showing the "corpse" of the said alien. To make his story more believable, he had posted his real name and address as well. This made it easy for authorities to track him down, as well as verify that his story was indeed a hoax.

A report from Stuff.co.nz disclosed that the farmer "Li Kai was arrested after his story went viral on Chinese social media and he was sentenced to to five days in jail for creating false reports and disturbing public order." Li Kai admitted that he had been inspired by the 2011 movie Paul and had hatched the hoax in order to get attention.

Stuff.co.nz likewise pointed out that Global Times reported the hoax was "part of a publicity stunt for a seafood company which ’sells artificial sea cucumbers.’"

For more on this story, log on to InterAksyon.com, Stuff.co.nz, and Global Times.