‘Got the wrong guy’: Sydney uni student wrongly named as Bondi attacker

First-year student Ben Cohen, 20, said he has been inundated with messages and social media friend requests after his photos went viral as the Bondi Junction attacker.

EXCLUSIVE

A Sydney university student says he has received “thousands” of messages and friend requests after being “dangerously” mistakenly online as the Westfield Bondi Junction attacker.

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley announced on Sunday morning the attacker – who was shot dead – is 40-year-old Queensland man Joel Cauchi.

However, online trolls on Saturday night wrongly identified 20-year-old UTS student Ben Cohen as the attacker, posting photos of him across social media.

The name “Benjamin Cohen” began trending on X – formerly known as Twitter – on Saturday night with 50,000 posts now made about the name.

Ben Cohen, 20, was wrongly named as the Bondi Junction attacker with photos of him going viral. Picture: Supplied

Mr Cohen’s social media accounts have been widely shared online. Picture: X

Speaking to news.com.au, Mr Cohen said it had been a “hectic night and morning”.

“It’s just gone crazy, it’s like look you’ve got the wrong guy,” he said.

“People don’t really think too hard about what they’re posting and how it might affect someone. It’s very dangerous how people could just make stuff up and destroy people’s lives.”

Mr Cohen is a first-year computing science student who lives with his parents in the eastern suburbs.

Mr Cohen’s dad Mark said the parents were “freaked out” by the case of mistaken identity and spent Sunday morning on the phone trying to get advice from police.

“I think they’ve just gone for the first face that kind of looks the same and matches their own motives or what they wanted the story to be,” Mark said.

“They don’t realise how much harm they can do. I have worked in tech my whole life, my wife is a teacher. We are just a very normal family.”

The father said the family has been inundated with calls from concerned loved ones.

“Everyone’s asking what’s going on, people asking if it’s true. Of course it’s not true, he’s not even a politically motivated person. He’s just a normal kid who now has got to deal with this,” he said.

Originally published as ‘Got the wrong guy’: Sydney uni student wrongly named as Bondi attacker