We Lost Our Gold hoaxes

So far, there have been two notable hoaxes connected with the We Lost Our Gold treasure hunt. (Warning: Spoilers for later episodes. Watch them all first!)

First, someone was leaving bottles in Central Park (near the starting location of the hunt), containing a message (posted to the We Lost Our Gold Unforums thread) purporting to be from the Captain:

This has been denounced publicly by the Captain himself:

And also (according to this Unforums post), in this e-mail from the Captain:

WHAT THE SODDING HELL BE THIS!

Ye ain't no Sherlock Homes, ye codfish! I ain't never said, 'Good Times,
Good times' IN ME RUTTIN' LIFE!!!!!

An' I know how ta spell tha name of me mate Crothers. This bugger don't.
If I find tha wanker what be claimin' ta be me, I give ye two guesses what
I'll do. And here's a hint; it rhymes with 'shoot him in his faske'.
Because the answer is in fact, I would shoot 'em in his faske.

Wanna-be Pirates. What be tha world commin' to. Some arse gots time on
their hands.
-CAPTAIN

Then, shortly after the release of the 8th video, someone claimed that they had found the treasure, and even mocked up a fake message of congratulations from the pirates.

This was quickly debunked:

There sure are a lot of scurvy buggers out there (or one who is really busy). The other lesson from these incidents is that the pirates are highly responsive, so take advantage of their availability while it lasts.