Scammers revive clickbait hoax using 2019 image of bus crash in Ethiopia
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on May 23, 2022 at 17:56
- 2 min read
- By Amanuel NEGUEDE, AFP Ethiopia
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The post, archived here, was published on May 15, 2022, and has generated hundreds of reactions.
Written in Amharic, part of the caption translates to: “At around 3:45 a.m. yesterday, a Lion bus en route from Torhayloch to Sebeta collided with an electric transformer with 68 passengers on board. The photos of the victims are # released on Telegram and can be found by clicking on the link (sic)”.
The post features four photos: one of a bus wreck; another showing the passport of a woman; the third a portrait-style picture of another woman; and finally the image of a candle with the words “God bless their souls”.
Similar to a hoax already debunked by AFP Fact Check in January 2022, readers are invited to click on two Telegram links to learn more about the identities of the purported victims.
But in reality, the links lead to a Telegram channel that publishes sensational stories designed to lure new readers.
The same post was also shared on Facebook here.
Old image
While the photo of the bus crash was indeed taken in Ethiopia, the incident occurred in 2019 on the outskirts of the capital, with six fatalities reported.
A report by EthioNews at the time shows the same photo of the crash.
The article explains the accident happened in Sululta, 30 kilometres north of Addis Ababa, when the bus collided with a truck.
Recurring hoaxes
Similar hoaxes regularly circulate on Facebook, as scammers attempt to attract more followers to Facebook pages or other social media networks like Telegram.
AFP Fact Check has debunked various online scams in Africa here.
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