The messages told him he should “rot in hell” and be thrown in jail.

His friends and family received a barrage of menacing threats.

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Strangers found his cellphone number and peppered his phone with abusive texts. His face was plastered across angry videos online. Even TMZ called him.

The messengers had wrongly concluded that the man was one of the seven Chi Phi fraternity members accused of participating in a 2024 gang rape at Cornell University, a case that has commanded public attention since the accuser, known as “Jane Doe,” filed a civil lawsuit last month.

But the man, a graduate student in engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, never attended Cornell - he merel...