Ben Cohen was mistakenly considered as the Bondi Junction stabbing suspect by social media users.
Ben Cohen who is a 20-year-old first-year student was flooded with messages and friend requests on social media following the viral spread of his photos as the Bondi Junction attacker.
Who is Ben Cohen as Sydney student is wrongly identified as the Bondi Junction, Australia stabbing suspect
The viral disinformation video Channel Seven aired on national TV accusing innocent local man Ben Cohen of being the Bondi Westfield's attacker.
Luckily, I quickly pointed out early on that this information was indeed #UNCONFIRMED pic.twitter.com/4EKFVsk4ue
— Aussie Cossack (@aussiecossack) April 14, 2024
A student from a Sydney university named 20 year old Ben Cohen shared that he’s been bombarded with “thousands” of messages and friend requests after being mistakenly identified online as the attacker from Westfield Bondi Junction.
The NSW Police Minister, Yasmin Catley, revealed on Sunday morning that the actual attacker, who was shot dead, is a 40-year-old man named Joel Cauchi from Queensland.
On Saturday night, online trolls incorrectly pinned the blame on 20-year-old UTS student Ben Cohen, wrongly identifying him as the attacker. They shared his photos all over social media. The name “Benjamin Cohen” started trending on X (formerly known as Twitter) that same night, with now over 50,000 posts about it.
Ben Cohen on the incident
In an interview, Ben Cohen described the night and morning when he was receiving messages and requests as incredibly busy and chaotic. He expressed frustration by mention that “It’s insane, you’ve got the wrong person.”
The first person to blame the Sydney terror attack on innocent Sydney Jewish man Ben Cohen was Simeon Boikov (Aussie Cossack). He's hiding in the Russian Consulate of Sydney trying to escape assault charges. pic.twitter.com/P9t6VYxuzO
— Drew Pavlou 🇦🇺🇺🇦🇹🇼🇨🇾 (@DrewPavlou) April 14, 2024
He highlighted the lack of consideration people have when posting online and the danger it poses, emphasizing how easily lives can be ruined by false accusations. Mr. Cohen is a first-year computing science student who resides with his parents in the eastern suburbs.
Cohen’s dad, Mark, mentioned that he and his wife were extremely worried about the mistaken identity situation. They spent Sunday morning contacting the police for guidance. Mark speculated that the online trolls simply picked the first person who resembled the attacker and fit their narrative, without considering the consequences.
“I think they’ve just gone for the first face that kind of looks the same and matches their own motives or what they wanted the story to be,” Mark said.
Mark expressed frustration at the lack of awareness regarding the harm caused by false accusations. He highlighted that he’s worked in the tech industry throughout his life, while his wife is a teacher, emphasizing that they’re just an ordinary family. They’ve been worried as all their friends and family were asking about the situation. Mark reassured them that the accusations are false and that his son is not politically motivated but just a regular kid who now has to navigate through this ordeal.