Year(s): 2001
On February 22, 2001, friend and co-conspirator Miso Alkalaj sent Joey Skaggs the first of many emails about a news story unfolding in Slovenia. A young law student had announced that he, representing all of Europe, had won first prize in a world competition in computer programming in Rio. Skeptics in the media became suspicious because they could not substantiate the existence of the competition, nor could they locate or talk to the student who had received government funding to enter this contest. Because Alkalaj declined to comment, they summarily decided that the whole thing was a hoax and he and Skaggs were behind it. The story gets more bizarre from there.
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