Lo que en verdad son las fotos de AF447

2006 Analysis: Hoax. The images above are video captures from the pilot episodes of the ABC television series Lost (note the handcuffs worn by the woman pictured on the left, a character recognizable to viewers of the series as Kate Austen, played by actress Evangeline Lilly). Similar images can be seen in video trailers for the series.

The Brazilian airliner accident referenced in the email actually happened. Gol Airlines Flight 1907 from Manaus to Brasilia went down in the Amazon jungle after the Boeing 737-800 collided with a smaller private jet on September 29, 2006. None of the 154 passengers and crew survived the estimated 300 mph impact when the aircraft struck the ground. At that speed it's unlikely that a digital camera loosed in the passenger cabin would have fared any better than its owner.

No one named Paulo Muller was reported among the victims of the crash.

Origin of the hoax

The hoax originated in an October 26, 2006 posting (English translation here) by Brazilian blogger Carlos Cardoso. In a later posting (translation here) he admitted to perpetrating the hoax and maintained that he did it to demonstrate that people don't read carefully enough or apply enough skepticism to what they find on the Internet. Cardoso went on to predict that the text and images would circulate widely via email and become "the new scandal of the Internet."

Presumably he is satisfied with the results.