Posts share altered Australian news reports to promote gambling apps

This article is more than one year old.
Published on September 28, 2022 at 11:23
3 min read
By AFP Australia, AFP Malaysia

Videos viewed tens of thousands of times on Facebook appear to show reports from Australia's Nine News about mobile gambling apps that have made people into millionaires. The purported reports, however, are not genuine. A spokesperson for the Nine Network told AFP the videos were "deceptive" versions of genuine news reports that had used the Nine News brand "without authorisation".

"How to earn $ 25 000 000 ?. The new best mobile app in Australia," reads a banner in a purported news report by Australia's Nine News that was posted on a Malaysia-based Facebook page here on September 14, 2022.

The 38-second video, which has been viewed more than 27,000 times, shows what appears to be a person winning money on a scratch card app. A voiceover can be heard saying that "more than 10,000 people [have] become millionaires".

The post invites viewers to install the "Mayan Diamonds" app from Apple's App Store.

A screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, captured on September 27, 2022

A similar video was posted by a Ukraine-based Facebook page here but instead shows someone appearing to win money through a slot machine app.

While comments on the post appear to show that many users realised the video was not a genuine news report, it has still been viewed more than 17,000 times.

'Deceptive' videos

A spokesperson for the Nine Network told AFP that the videos use its intellectual property "without authorisation" and are "deceptive".

The spokesperson added the videos are edited versions of reports featuring its newsreaders Georgie Gardner and Peter Hitchener where voiceovers promoting gambling apps have been added.

AFP was unable to locate the news report used in the video posted by the Malaysia-based page, but an example of a genuine news report presented by Gardner can be viewed on YouTube here.

Other clips used in the video appear to have been taken from an unrelated YouTube video featuring the Russian band Anacondaz.

A clip of one of the band members with a child -- which was also shared on the band's own YouTube channel here -- can be seen at the 19-second mark of the purported news report.

Another clip that appears to show a band member being interviewed can be seen at the purported news report's 25-second mark.

Screenshot comparison between the video posted on Facebook (left) and the YouTube video featuring Anacondaz (right)

Screenshot comparison between the video posted on Facebook (left) and the YouTube video featuring Anacondaz (right)

The genuine news report used in the video shared by the Ukraine-based Facebook post can be seen on YouTube here.

The Nine News report, which begins with a short introduction from Hitchener, is about a Melbourne man who won 80 million Australian dollars in the country's Powerball lottery.

The altered video, however, mutes Hitchener's voice when he says the words "lottery" and "Powerball". It also substitutes the rest of the genuine news report with different visuals and the voiceover used in the other misleading video.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the video posted on Facebook (left) and the genuine Nine News report (right):

Screenshot comparison between the video posted on Facebook (left) and the genuine Nine News report (right)

AFP has previously debunked social media posts that have misleadingly used doctored news reports here and here.

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