Blake Messick managed to hack his neighbour’s printer and send him messages from the printer, scaring him.
The Mirror reported that 18-year-old Messick from Houston, Texas, managed to hack his friend’s new wireless printer and sent him messages from the printer saying “[Hello] I am your printer. I have become self-aware. Run!”. This was possible because his neighbour had not secured the network. Most people are aware that printers cannot do this, The Mirror stated, adding that “we’re not sure any robots can – not yet, anyway. Run when they do”.
However, Messick’s neighbour was scared enough by the prank to throw the new printer out. Meanwhile Messick had been tweeting the joke on social media and it went viral, especially after he posted a photo of the new printer by the rubbish bins with the comment: “What’s this?”
Messick then said on Twitter: “And that’s the story of how I got a free printer.” The printer that he had pretended to be was retrieved from the bins, with The Mirror asking him if he was going to reveal the joke to his neighbour, but as yet there has been no answer.