‘Dance of the Pope’ Hoax Again Making Rounds

In the last few days, a Facebook Messenger forward stating a virus is circulating disguised as a video called the 'Dance of the Pope' has started making rounds. The full forwarded messages reads something like this:

Please also tell all contacts from your list not to accept a video called the "Dance of the Pope". It is a virus that formats your mobile. Beware it is very dangerous. They announced it today on the radio. Fwd this msg to as many as you can!

I have personally received this message quite a few times this week alone. IT IS A HOAX! After a doing a little bit of online research, I found out it was 100% untrue and actually originated back in April 2015. It has also been known as the 'Dance of the Hillary'. The rumor/mythbusting website Snopes.com updated their information about the hoax a few weeks ago stating:

We found no information suggesting the Dance of the Pope virus warning was anything but a rumor. No radio stations were linked to the purported announcement; no news outlets reported the story; none of the antivirus companies had heard of it; and, most tellingly, no one appeared to have experienced the virus on his own device. If the virus were real, many users would have encountered and unwittingly opened the attachment despite the circulating warning by now.

The beginning part of the same forward appears to be an all together separate hoax which reads:

DO NOT ACCEPT A FRIEND REQUEST FROM A CHRISOPHER DAVIES AND JESSICA DAVIES THEY ARE HACKERS. TELL EVERY 1 ON YOUR LIST BECAUSE IF SOMEBODY ON YOUR LIST ADDS HIM, HE'LL BE ON YOUR LIST TOO. HE'LL FIGURE OUT UR COMPUTER'S ID AND ADDRESS , SO COPY & PASTE THIS MESSAGE TO EVERYONE EVEN IF U DON'T CARE.

Whether the name is spelled "Christopher" or "Chrisopher", the debunking website HoaxSlayer.com claims that this one is just as fake. It's also worth noting that HoaxSlayer stated all such hoax warnings are technically impossible and for a hacking attempt to be successful, some sort of file transfer or exchange of information must take place.

Nothing like some good 'ole fashioned logic and "technical know-how" to quiet the rumor mills.