Another set of fake Facebook (FB) advertisements claimed that several people fainted after crowding and lining up at SM Mall of Asia (MOA) to buy a Japanese air conditioner. It is linked to a product’s scam website that asks for personal information.
The bogus posts used a composite image made to look like people crowded outside SM MOA. It also used a photo of a woman who fainted at a mall in Vietnam.
VERA Files Fact Check has debunked other claims with a similar modus.
The FB posts, which appeared on October 12, 16, and 25, all carried the same caption that read:
“Naging magulo kahapon ang mall nang pumila ang libu-libong tao para bumili ng aircon sa panahon ng 50% off sale at buy 1 get 1 (Things became messy at the mall yesterday when thousands of people lined up to buy an aircon during a buy one, get one, 50% off sale.)”
Reverse image search shows that one of the images from the fake post is actually made from two different photos:
- A photo of SM MOA’s facade dated April 3, 2012; and
- A photo of people crowding outside the MyTOWN Shopping Centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia dated March 2, 2018. The people lined up to buy Apple products.
Another photo in the fake post showed a woman in white clothes being assisted by strangers. She was one of several people who fainted at the Big C supermarket in Nam Tu Liem District, Hanoi, Vietnam on March 14, 2015.
All three FB posts provided a link to the product’s scam website which asked for personal information. These ads appeared around the time SM made announcements on Oct. 11 and 24 about Tatang’s Weekend Sale and a three-day sale, respectively.
FB page Nurul Baety (created on June 16) and Lily Khairani (June 8) created the bogus advertisements, which collectively garnered over 2,389 interactions.
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(Editor’s Note: VERA Files has partnered with Facebook to fight the spread of disinformation. Find out more about this partnership and our methodology.)
