Kaycee Nicole

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Kaycee Nicole (technically Kaycee Nicole Swenson) was a fictional person who was the subject of an Internet hoax in 2001. She was presented as a high school or college student suffering from frequent and severe health problems, and had an online diary with a large Internet following. After it was "reported" that she had died of leukemia, triggering an outpouring of condolences and grief from her readers, some wondered whether she was in fact a real person. A grassroots investigation, much of it recorded in a contentious thread on MetaFilter, revealed that she did not exist, and had been an elaborate role-playing exercise by her adult "mother." Though Kaycee Nicole had accepted some gifts from readers, local and federal authorities determined there was not enough evidence for a fraud investigation. It has been speculated that Kaycee Nicole's creator suffers from a factitious disorder similar to Munchausen syndrome in which she invented not only medical conditions, but also the person who suffered from them.[1][2]