It is alleged that she killed herself after receiving several cruel messages, including one purporting to be from the fictitious 16-year-old boy - named Josh Evans saying the world would be better off without her.

BBC: Myspace website

Another example, in a study published last year: Students in an experiment where they were given the same information about a fictitious company and asked to estimate its value.

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Every year they received detailed statements showing the gains and loss and interest and dividends from the fictitious investments that Mr. Madoff was pretending to make for them.

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Last year, Avatar director James Cameron visited Brazil, saw the comparison between the real world and his fictitious one, and then made a short anti-Belo Monte documentary called Message from Pandora.

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