Fake Cormac McCarthy account fools even Twitter founder

Los Angeles Herald (ANI) Tuesday 7th February, 2012

A Twitter account set up in the name of the famously reclusive novelist Cormac McCarthy, fooled the likes of Jack Dorsey, co-founder of the microblogging site, before it was found to be fake.

Dorsey welcomed 'Comac McCarthey' to the service - before realising that the account was not verified.

An unpublished Scottish author, Michael Crossan, who is a great fan of the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer, was actually the person behind the account.

He said he had set up the account because he wished that McCarthy, his great hero, had a presence online.

"I had looked for McCarthy and he wasn't there. I didn't think he would be, but I thought it would be amazing if he was online," the Telegraph quoted Crossan as telling the Scotland.

"I came across Margaret Atwood's tweets. I had read and admired her novel 'The Handmaid's Tale' and I tweeted her as Cormac. It just snowballed from there," he said.

Both Atwood, who does run her own Twitter account, and Dorsey, fell for the forgery, believing that McCarthy, the author of 10 novels including 'The Road' and 'No Country for Old Men', had indeed joined the service.

Dorsey sent a tweet to his 18 million Twitter followers welcoming McCarthy while Atwood asked her "T-pals" to welcome the American McCarthy to the site.

"Join me in welcoming @CormacCMcCarthy to Twitter! We have the best authors in the world right here," Dorsey tweeted.

However, he followed up his tweet saying he couldn't verify the author's account for certain, as it had not been given a 'blue tick', which Twitter gives to high profile people to confirm their veracity.

The hoax was uncovered after three days and 33 tweets, and the account has now been suspended. (ANI)