PC for All proudly presents: Trolltider, an article series that addresses 20 of the funniest, wackiest, and most bizarre online scams the world has ever seen. During May, you will find an online scam every weekday on our site.
The site Manbeef.com appeared in 2001 as a happy surprise for all the cannibals of the world. The website purported to deliver “human meat for the sophisticated consumer”:
– We offer everything from sausages, marrow bones and fillets to prime brisket! Everything comes from the highest quality human flesh. Every cut of meat we sell has been selected solely for its superb standard and fine texture. We offer only the best.
Visitors to the site (during the site’s heyday it was about 500,000 people a day) could view mouth-watering images of various cuts of meat of alleged human origin. A daily recipe was haphazardly produced with suggestions for various suitable arrangements where the ingredients were said to be at their best. There was also a web shop that sold mouse pads, t-shirts and similar products with the website’s logo on it. What was conspicuous by its absence, however, was a method for actually ordering the human flesh.
Petitions and protests against the site were spread via email, similar to another known scam site – bonsaikitten.com. The highlight for Manbeef.com was when the US Food & Drug Administration decided to open an investigation because of all the attention. They found no evidence of any wrongdoing. In fact, no evidence of any activity at all.
The originator of all this was one Joseph Christopherson, a Los Angeles-based graphic artist with a special sense of humor. The website Manbeef.com no longer exists today.