Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
A 15 second video of masked men discussing the price at which they will purchase and sell children has gone viral on social media claiming to be actual footage of child kidnappers caught in the act. In the video, numerous kids are shown lying unconscious on the ground with their lips taped shut and their hands bound. A pile of school bags are seen gathered right next to them. The man filming the video by stealth points out that these children were kidnapped and now being sold.
Fact Check/Verification
We started our investigation by conducting a reverse image search on Google of the key-frames of the video to ascertain its authenticity and found a longer version of the video on Facebook uploaded by user Gafoor Ibrahim on 30th June, 2022 along with the caption ‘The group that kidnap school children and sell their organs.’ when translated via Google translate.
In the longer video at the 0:30 second mark, it carried a disclaimer in Hindi and English, which said, “Please Read the video Disclaimer carefully. This is not a real incident.”
Around 1:20 , the video carried another disclaimer which said, “This video is complete fiction, all the events in the video are scripted and made for awareness purpose. It does not promote any kind of activity or defame any kind of ritual. This video has nothing to do with any real incident.”
Despite the fact that we were unable to independently confirm who made this staged video, it is obvious from the disclaimers that it is not real.
Conclusion
Newschecker’s invesigation reveals that the video of child kidnappers being filmed is a scripted video.
Result: Missing Context
Our Sources
Facebook video Gafoor Ibrahim on 30th June, 2022
Self-Analysis
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Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
