Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
Claim
This beautiful little girl was seen in Mangalore with a group of Tamil beggars. Please forward until it reaches the right parent and she is identified. She knows her name & says she is Sonal Bipin Patel. Please post this photo in all your groups. WhatsApp msg.
Verification
A video has just gone viral in social media with the claim that the girl child in the video is missing and has been spotted with a group of beggars from Tamil Nadu. The claim further appeals to share the post so the parents can see and find the girl. As we have mentioned in our previous fact checks that claims which contain emotional appeal are much likely to be shared, this claim, by all means, contains an emotional appeal and that’s why it is being shared frequently. We began to fact check this as we received this claim on our Fact-Checking Number “+9199994 99044”
Claim Resurfaces on Twitter and Facebook
This little beautiful girl was seen in Mangalore with a group of Tamil beggars.Please forward until it reaches the right parent and she is identified. She knows her name & says she is Sonal Bipin Patel.
Please post this photo on all your groups. WhatsApp msg.@timesofindia pic.twitter.com/SlhuIkqVCh— RaghavendraVankadari (@RaghavendraVNS) December 12, 2019
This little beautiful girl was seen in Mangalore with a group of Tamil beggars.Please forward until it reaches the right parent & she is identified. She says she is Sonal BipinPatelThe beggars say she was found in a train coming from Mumbai.May be she can get her life back. pic.twitter.com/h2Suvz78pN
— Prasad G R (@PrasadGR4) December 11, 2019
This little beautiful girl was seen in Mangalore with a group of Tamil beggars.Please forward until it reaches the right parent and she is identified. She knows her name & says she is Sonal Bipin Patel.
Please post this photo on all your groups.The beggars say she was found pic.twitter.com/V8YJsG2gqj— Tejinder Kaur Mehta (@TejinderKaurMe2) December 12, 2019
More such claims can be viewed here.
Notably, a set of images has gone viral in the past with the same claim which when fact checked turned out to be false as the girl shown in the picture belonged to Bangladesh. A detailed report can be read below.
कर्नाटक की नहीं, वायरल हो रही ये तस्वीर बांग्लादेश की है
ट्विटर,फेसबुक और व्हाट्सप्प पर बच्ची की ये तस्वीर इस दावे के साथ वायरल की जा रही है कि कर्नाटक के मंगलोर शहर में बच्ची से भीख मंगवाई जा रही है। – कर्नाटक की नहीं, वायरल हो रही ये तस्वीर बांग्लादेश की है
2018 video of missing girl resurfaces with misleading claim
We did a reverse search by generating the keyframes of the video and then it led us to a tweet which was posted on 30 January, 2018. The tweet reads, “This girl child is found in Mohan Nagar. If someone knows about her, please contact me”.
ये बिटीया किसकी हे ये मोहन नगर मे मिली है अगर किसी को जानकारी हे तो बताऐ मे रोकी भदोरिया फोन लगांये 7000818182@SspGhaziabad @ghaziabadpolice @Uppolice @adgzonemeerut @singhshakti1982 @chandanmedia @vipintomarabp pic.twitter.com/JMswP0ycjD
— Arjun Chaudhary (@Arjunpchaudhary) January 30, 2018
Notably, Ghaziabad Police has also replied to the aforementioned tweet. Ghaziabad Police’s reply reads, “With the help of Social Media, the girl has now met her parents. We have contacted Ravi Bhadoria to confirm the same.”
सोशल मीडिया के प्रयासों से उक्त बच्ची अपने परिजनों से मिल गयी है ~ रोकी भदौरिया जी से संपर्क कर जानकारी ली गयी है।आप सभी का धन्यवाद !
— GHAZIABAD POLICE (@ghaziabadpolice) January 30, 2018
But the tweet above was not the first time when this video was uploaded on the Internet. In 2018, a Facebook post was made with the same video.
Security Check Required
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The same video was uploaded on YouTube on 16 February, 2018.
Parents met the girl after tweet went viral
To get clarity on the issue, we called the person whose number was mentioned in the tweet. Speaking to newschecker, he said, “The girl was found in Madhya Pradesh’s Mohan Nagar. She had come to her relatives who live in the same town but unfortunately she went missing. Girl’s uncle contacted me soon after the tweet went viral. I am really concerned as the video posted by me is being used for the wrong purpose and to spread misinformation.”
Girl shown in the video is not missing
The claim about a girl who is said to be missing and spotted in Mangalore with beggars from Tamil Nadu turned out to be ‘Misleading’ as the girl went missing in Madhya Pradesh in 2018.
Tools Used
- Twitter Advanced Search
- Source Verification
Result: Misleading
(If you would like us to fact check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint, email us at checkthis@newschecker.in. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill the form)
Authors
A self-taught social media maverick, Saurabh realised the power of social media early on and began following and analysing false narratives and ‘fake news’ even before he entered the field of fact-checking professionally. He is fascinated with the visual medium, technology and politics, and at Newschecker, where he leads social media strategy, he is a jack of all trades. With a burning desire to uncover the truth behind events that capture people's minds and make sense of the facts in the noisy world of social media, he fact checks misinformation in Hindi and English at Newschecker.
