(CNN) "My brother traveled there. I'm scared for (his) life. Please help me."

The desperate plea for information about a relative caught up in the EgyptAir disaster ... or was it the Orlando nightclub shooting , or the Istanbul airport bombings

. @EGYPTAIR my brother traveled there, I'm scared for her life. Please help me. pic.twitter.com/PriXlnWnvA

Photos of a Mexican man have been shared as a victim of all three incidents, among many others, according to an investigation by France24

His face even made it into a video by the New York Times about the Orlando attack. It has since been removed.

The New York Times removed the man's photo from a video about the Orlando shooting.

Hoax

Confirming photos shared on social media is a notoriously tricky business. People often post pictures they did not take themselves, sometimes sharing images from unrelated incidents, either by accident or intentionally.

In this man's case, it seems to be the latter. Speaking to France24, the man, who has not been named, said "my photo is everywhere because of someone who started it as a prank after a legal dispute." He didn't deny that he'd been caught up in legal proceedings.

The French network contacted some people who shared the man's photo. They all said that he had "cheated them out of money," and posting his image in relation to terror attacks was a sort of revenge.

"Our goal is to ruin his reputation. We want the whole world to recognize his face," one said.

While the man has due cause to sue those who are attempting to smear him, he told France24 "in Mexico, nothing ever happens in these kind of cases."

Taken in

While several outlets, such as BuzzFeed and the BBC , saw through the charade and attempted to expose it -- and many media organizations did not post the man's photo at all -- many users on social media were taken in by his supposed relatives' expressions of grief.

"Look at his other tweets -- this dude is a lying fraud. Disgusting."

Hi @realDonaldTrump. My parents who passed away always said you were big inspiration.Can you pls RT for their memory? pic.twitter.com/veBxFNXnOd — Philip Bradbury (@feckhead) September 29, 2014