Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur and Kiss present the Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group award at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, California on 26 February 1996.Reuters

Tupac Shakur, American rapper and actor, was shot dead in 1996 but social media is abuzz with the reports that he is alive and recently spotted with Hollywood celebrities, including Beyonce Knowles.

The rumour started doing the round after a satire website, Huzler, reported saying that the "rapper comes out of hiding after 18 years."

"Tupac Shakur who was supposedly killed at the age of 25 is now admitting he has been hiding this whole time. It was Shakur who in 1996 was reportedly attending a special event in Las Vegas, the Mike Tyson-Benson fight, and then afterwards was brutally murdered," the website reported.

"A day or so later he is autopsied, then quickly cremated. There is no funeral. Nor is there any record of a tribute or memorial. Now we know exactly why it was because Tupac Shakur was never killed it is unclear why he has been hiding. This story is still under development but Tupac has already been spotted with Celebrities."

The website also posted an image of the rapper, known by his stage names 2Pac, with Beyonce. But the article is a complete hoax, as the rapper was shot four times at the intersection of Flamingo Road and Koval Lane in Las Vega on 7 September, 1996 and died six days later.

The fake report has gone viral on social media and several users apparently believed the hoax reports.

Users have also posted that his death was a conspiracy theory and that he would come out on 13 September, 2014.

Here are few posts by users who believed that the rapper is still alive or will come back next month.

"Strange: Tupac still alive! 2pac at BET Awards 2014."

"Is Tupac Dead or Alive? Some of the things I've read lately will make you double think! We he return Sept 13,2014 guess we'll find out soon!"

"@jimbokarpo: Tupac at the 2014 BET awards? yeah hes alive."

"Reading conspiracies about how Tupac is still alive and will come back September 13, 2014. The more I read the more I believe it."

"So everyone's saying that Tupac is coming back in 2014 and there's proof pictures that he's alive, wtf man?#tupac alive 2014."

"Tupac really is alive tho, he's "suppose" to come back on September 13, 2014..... If he really shows himself, I'ma be shocked!!"

"Tupac! Dead or Alive? Some of the things I've read lately will make you double think! We he return Sept 13,2014 guess we'll find out soon!!"

"After extensive research I am convinced that Tupac is alive and coming back sometime in 2014. Unrelated, this wine is delicious."