Video claims to show helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant. Fact Check

A video claims to show the helicopter crash that killed former basketball professional Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven other people.

FALSE

An example of the hoax on Twitter is below.

#KobeBryant helicopter crash live footage

The video shows a helicopter climbing over some mountains before losing control, tail spinning downwards before exploding on the side of a mountain in front of several onlookers.

However the video, which is spreading virally on Twitter and YouTube, does not show the crash that killed Kobe Bryant.

In fact the footage dates back to late 2018, and shows a rescue helicopter crashing in the United Arab Emirates. A number of news stories were published at the time of the crash, including this one.

One instance of this video falsely claiming it showed the crash that killed Bryant was uploaded only hours after the incident and had already accumulated over 4 million views within less than 24 hours.


Sponsored Content. Continued below...




Hoaxers and Internet scammers often used fake videos claiming to show high profile events, often in a bid to trick users into downloading malware. However in this case the videos appear to serve nothing more than just a prank.

Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven other people were travelling by helicopter over California. However the helicopter crashed into the side of a mountain in Calabasas, killing all on board.

It is likely that a number of fake videos purporting to show the crash that killed Kobe Bryant will spread in the aftermath of this death. While there are genuine videos that show the aftermath of the crash, at the time of writing there are no known videos that show the crash itself.

Continued below...


Thanks for reading, we hope this article helped, but before you leave us for greener pastures, please help us out.

We're hoping to be totally ad-free by 2025 - after all, no one likes online adverts, and all they do is get in the way and slow everything down. But of course we still have fees and costs to pay, so please, please consider becoming a Facebook supporter! It costs only 0.99p (~$1.30) a month (you can stop at any time) and ensures we can still keep posting Cybersecurity themed content to help keep our communities safe and scam-free. You can subscribe here


Remember, we're active on social media - so follow us on Facebook, Bluesky, Instagram and X