The man was a victim of the terror attack in Istanbul, Turkey last week.
Before that though, the man reportedly died in the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
But even before that, the man was on the EgyptAir flight that disappeared over the Mediterranean.
No, this man isn't an extraordinarily unlucky person with nine lives; he's just the victim of an ongoing internet prank, apparently done out of revenge.
Various Twitter accounts have been tweeting photos of this man, identifying him as a victim (or suspect) of various terror attacks around the world, the BBC noted. A photo of him was even included in a video from The New York Times about the Orlando shooting. (The NYT video has since been updated to remove the man.)
France 24 investigated the "deaths" of the man to figure out what was going on.
Apparently, the real man in the photos is in Mexico and scammed a bunch of people out of money, with some totals going up to about $1,000. So to get back at him, his victims are seemingly connecting his image to all these terror attacks.
Someone who used the man's photo told France 24,
This man used to be my friend but he's cheated money out of at least four people who I know. I lodged both civil and criminal complaints against him, but because the legal proceedings are dragging on and he still hasn't given us back our money, we decided to punish him by posting his photo online. Our goal is to ruin his reputation. We want the whole world to [recognize] his face.
It's a strange form of revenge, but it's a very effective one. Publications use the photo of the man, believing it to have been shared by friends and family members of a terror victim.
Meanwhile, the man is having trouble getting his photos removed because anti-cyberbullying laws are so messed up around the world that it's difficult to get a case going.
France 24 contacted the man, but chose not to publish his name.
The man told the news channel,
My photo is everywhere because of someone who started it as a prank after a legal dispute. I never reported the people who did this to me because, in Mexico, nothing ever happens in these kind of cases.
He said he contacted The New York Times and BBC for using his photo, but said he did not hear back from them.
This is a manipulative kind of "prank" that takes advantage of the sympathy people feel in the aftermath of terror attacks. Because the people trolling the man aren't using his name, at least this won't show up in Google results, but his face is becoming more and more notorious.
It is definitely a terrible prank... but kind of genius.
Citations: This Guy Keeps Getting Killed in Terrorist Attacks (Gizmodo), EgyptAir crash: The internet fakes and rumours (BBC), Who is this man who seems to die in every terrorist attack? (France 24), Timeline of Orlando Nightclub Attack (The New York Times)
