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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, CenturionLewis 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.
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 profited 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.
Some speculate that while Liam took down his 'CenturionLewis' page, he is still present on social media using other fake accounts.
Check out the entire thread revealing the fake account below:
Mercedes no longer suffering from bouncing issues
Mercedes, who started off the season on a rough note with worrying porpoising issues, no longer seem to be facing this problem after a smooth and promising 2022 F1 Hungarian GP.
The team’s trackside engineering director, Andrew Shovlin, told Auto Motor und Sport:
“Bouncing is no longer an issue at all. We still have a few things in the quiver, nothing spectacular but things that will take us further. We are no longer going around in circles but are now moving forward continuously.”
The Silver Arrows currently stand third in the constructors' standings, with 334 points to their name.
