Faked death

A faked death, also called a staged death or pseudocide, is the act of an individual leading other people to believe that the individual has died when the person is still alive. People who commit pseudocide can do so by leaving evidence, clues, or through other methods. In fandom slang, pseuicide is faking a suicide.
Committing pseudocide may be done for a variety of reasons, such as to fraudulently collect insurance money, to evade pursuit by others, escape from being held hostage by abductors, or as a practical joke. 
Unless in the furtherance of a crime (such as fraud or avoiding debt or jail), faking one's own death is not necessarily illegal.
Social media.
False claims of death, including false claims of suicide, are not uncommon in social media accounts. The people who do this are often trying to get an advantage for themselves, such as more attention or likes, and they lie about their deaths "without thinking about the fact that there are people who would be upset, hurt or psychologically affected by the news of their death". It may be an intentional effort to manipulate other people's emotions or to see how people would react if they had died. Online, people have claimed to be dead as a response to real or perceived mistreatment on social media, and posting news of their death, especially their suicide, is a way to punish the other users.
History.
Deaths have been faked since ancient times, but the rate increased significantly in the middle of the 19th century, when life insurance, and therefore insurance fraud, became more common.
In the 21st century, the advent of mass surveillance has made it much harder to hide after faking a death. Credit cards, social media, mobile phone systems, and other technological situations make it difficult to make a clean break with the past identity. Widespread use of facial recognition tools can connect new identities to old social media accounts.
Motivation.
While some people fake their deaths as a prank or self-promotion effort, or to get a clean start, the most common motivations are money or a need to escape an abusive relationship. People who fake their deaths often feel like they are trapped in a desperate situation. Because of this, an investigation may be triggered if the person disappears, no body is found, and the person is in significant financial difficulties.
Methods.
People who fake their own deaths often do so by pretend drownings, because it provides a plausible reason for the absence of a body. However, drowned bodies usually appear within a few days of a death, and when no body appears, a faked death is suspected.
Outcome.
Although firm figures are impossible to identify, investigators resolve nearly all of the cases they receive, and researchers believe that most people are caught.
Faking a death is not a victimless act. The people who grieved what they believed was a real death are usually angry and sometimes see the offense as being unforgivable.