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Internet 'gorgeous guy' admits hoax

Baca
Baca  


SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- For weeks, anonymous postings on a San Francisco Internet bulletin board mysteriously detailed the comings and goings of a man dubbed the "gorgeous guy."

They described what he looked like, the clothes he wore and where he caught the bus every day. Stories about 29-year-old Dan Baca appeared in a local weekly tabloid, USA Today, and other media, including CNN.

Baca told reporters that not only was he the subject of idle chat, but strangers would approach him at his bus stop and even ask him out on dates. "I felt like I was being targeted," Baca said. The reason he decided to talk publicly was to express his dismay. He also indicated he might now pursue a career in modeling or acting.

It turns out the "Gorgeous Guy" was acting all along.

Baca now tells CNN he fabricated most of the posts, which appeared on the Craigslist bulletin board, under the heading Missed Connections. He made up stories about being accosted by strangers on the street who recognized him.

Baca, a computer network engineer for a federal banking agency, claims it all began with no malicious intent. "I was just playing around," he says. After the first newspaper article appeared, Baca says events began to snowball. His motivation for perpetrating the hoax was unclear.






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