Several photos uploaded on Facebook (FB) that advertised the sale of an air conditioner were not taken at SM Megamall as the post claimed. And the link it provided for ordering the product online is bogus.
VERA Files Fact Check has debunked a similar post last week. (Read VERA FILES FACT CHECK: 2016 photos in Vietnam mall FALSELY shown as ‘MOA aircon sale’ crowd)
The Aug. 26 erroneous post on a Filipino FB page stated that an aircon sale caused massive disturbance at SM Megamall and provided a link to a website for online purchases instead. The post received more than 254,400 recent views.
A part of its caption reads: “Nakakabaliw na pangyayari, isang kahindik-hindik na insidente ang nangyari sa harap ng SM MegaMall, libu-libong tao ang pumila sa gulo na nagdulot ng traffic, may mga nahimatay pa at kinailangan pang ma-ospital.”
(Crazy event, a thrilling incident happened in front of SM MegaMall, where thousands lined up at the event that caused traffic, some have fainted and needed to be rushed to the hospital.)
The post uploaded three different photos which were said to be taken during the event:
- a woman who fainted carried by the crowd to the police;
- a huge crowd of people occupying two floors of a building;
- and a purported witness of the event being interview by the media
A reverse image search shows that not one of the photos was taken during the supposed incident.
The first photo was actually a 2015 Reuters picture showing a woman who fainted while waiting for the arrival of Pope Francis in the country.
Online news articles revealed that the photo of the crowd was actually taken in 2018 during a warehouse sale of discounted Apple products in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
And the third photo does not show a witness of the alleged incident but is actually a 2012 stock photo of an unidentified Thai government official being interviewed about a fire incident in Bangkok, Thailand.
Clicking on the provided link for online purchase leads to a scam website that asks for personal information.
The untrue post was published by FB page Carlotte Miko Hopidan (created Aug. 26) and appeared several days after the SM Appliance Center announced it will run a month-long sale on selected products.
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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.)
