A Recent History of Banksy Hoaxes

From false collaborations to fake residencies, rumors surround the enigma that is Banksy. Due to his anonymous nature, it's hard to determine fact from fiction, which only serves to make him more famous. Many have ridden off the coattails of his fame by posing as the street artist or invoking his name when Banksy isn't actually involved. Most recently, Banksy's rumored collaboration with BNE for World Water Day was revealed to be fake, despite many insisting that it was true. We've put together A Recent History of Banksy Hoaxes so you know exactly what is real and what is fake when it comes to the infamous street artist.

RELATED: The 50 Greatest Banksy Works of All Time
RELATED: 25 Things You Didn't Know About Banksy

Year: 2005
Culprit: Banksy

In 2005, Banksy himself pulled off a hoax at the British Museum when he placed his own work in the Ancient Artifacts section. Banksy's planted piece was a stone depicting a caveman pushing a shopping cart. Previously, he had placed his own paintings in major art museums, including the Met and the Louvre, without permission.

Year: 2008
Culprit: Daily Mail

Several articles claiming to have photos or videos revealing the identity of Banksy were published in 2008, claiming that he was a man named Robin Gunningham. One of the first supposed photos appeared in an in-depth piece published by the UK's Daily Mail. The article traces the artist back to alleged grade school photos.

Year: 2009
Culprit: Banksy impersonator

In 2009, an impersonator duped British news outlet The Guardian into thinking he was in fact Banksy. The article was later taken offline, and The Guardian listed the story as a correction and issued an apology.

Year: 2009
Culprit: Ivan Massow

Perhaps one of the most bizarre hoaxes is filmmaker Ivan Massow's mockumentary Banksy's Coming for Dinner. Joan Collins and her husband were even fooled by the director, believing that they were actually hosting the famed artist for dinner during the filming of the movie.

Year: 2010
Culprits: Banksy and Mr. Brainwash

There is much debate over the authenticity of Exit Through the Gift Shop as a documentary versus a work of pure fiction. If it isn't a real documentary, then this is one of the greatest Banksy hoaxes, performed by the artist himself, which led to an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary.

Year: 2011
Culprit: eBay user

Once again, someone tried to pawn off their supposed knowledge of Banksy's identity. This time, it was one user claiming to sell the information through an auction on eBay. The listing was eventually deleted. The highest bid was just under $1 million.

Year: 2011
Culprit: The Poke

One of the lesser-known Banksy hoaxes was perpetuated by satirical website The Poke. A blog post on The Poke claimed that Banksy had painted the infamous Jesus statue in Rio de Janeiro to look like Osama bin Laden.

Year: 2013
Culprit: Fake press release

Banksy is the king of anonymity and has been creating work illegally for years without getting arrested. Last year rumors began circulating that the ever-elusive artist had been arrested when a fake press release reported the incident online.

Year: 2013
Culprit: Repairman

With all of the hype surrounding his New York residency, it's no surprise that a myth about the artist's identity surfaced. The rumor surrounded Banksy's Mobile Waterfall truck, which experienced a technical failure for 30 minutes one night. Many news outlets believed that one of the men who came to repair the piece was the elusive street artist.

Year: 2013
Culprit: Dave Cicirelli

During his New York residency, Banksy sold original works in Central Park for $60 a piece. Only a few people bought the works, thinking they were knockoffs. Eight days later, however, Dave Cicirelli offered up Banksy fakes in the same spot, which quickly sold out.

Year: 2013
Culprit: Banksy-Paris

After Banksy's "Better Out Than In" residency in New York, copycat websites began emerging, claiming that their respective cities would host the artist for a month. One such website, called Banksy-Paris, claimed that Banksy's next residency, "Back to the Roots," would be hosted in the French city.

Year: 2013
Culprit: BanksyLAX

The second faux-residency was announced in Los Angeles through a website called BanksyLAX. The site's landing page features an obvious riff on the bandaged heart that the artist created in Brooklyn.

Year: 2013
Culprit: Walmart

Around the holidays last year, Walmart began selling prints ranging from $25 to $869 attributed to Banksy. The superstore not only sold fake works by the artist but also took images from other artists without giving them credit.

Year: 2014
Culprit: Facebook user

Like Twitter, Facebook has recently begun the process of verifying celebrity profiles for the fans who wish to watch their every moves. Among these, Banksy's fan page was listed as authentic with a verified check. Bucky Turco of Animal New York revealed that the page wasn't in fact run by Banksy in late March of this year.

Year: 2014
Culprit: BNE

The most infamous and recent Banksy hoax involved fundraising sticker artist BNE. BNE's organization claimed to be working with Banksy after pairing with other famous street artists, such as Shepard Fairey and FAILE, on a line of T-shirts to raise money on World Water Day for the nonprofit charity:water. Animal New York was the first to debunk the myth, but the T-shirts still sold out on BNE's website.