Video shows migrants in a seaside town in Spain, not on Greek island of Samos

"Two days ago in Samos! (...) Normal landing of 20 to 25 recruits normally!!!!", said this Facebook post from September 22, 2024, which has since been shared more than 750 times. 

The post includes a video showing people in black clothing climbing out of a boat and onto a beach. 

The video with the same text was also shared by another user on Facebook here. 

In the comments, users made racist and anti-immigrant comments, claiming that migrants were coming to conquer Greece. "You realise that this is a real invasion. If we did it as ordinary citizens, we'd be in jail at least... great evil is coming", wrote one. "Tragic. Our children are leaving and a disorderly Islamic replacement is coming!!!!" said another. 

In other comments, users accused the Greek authorities of doing nothing. "Where is the coastguard?" wrote one. "What is our army doing?" said another. 

However, the footage was actually of refugees arriving on El Chucho beach in the Andalusia region in southern Spain, as reported by local Spanish media on September 19, 2024. 

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Screenshot of the false post on Facebook. Image captured: 24/9/2024

Samos is one of  five Greek islands in the Aegean Sea -- alongside Leros, Lesbos, Kos and Chios -- that receive most of the migrant arrivals by sea from neighbouring Turkey.

A "closed controlled-access" refugee camp with accommodation for 3,650 was opened there in 2021. But since then, NGOs and rights groups have heavily criticised the EU-funded high-tech facility.

In April 2024, one person died and 24 others were rescued when a migrant boat sank near the island. On September 23, 2024, four people died and five were rescued in another such incident (archived here). 

Refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and immigrants are frequently the target of disinformation campaigns. AFP has already debunked false claims here and here that migrants and asylum seekers were responsible for some of the wildfires in Greece in 2023. 

The video was filmed on El Chucho beach in Spain 

A reverse image search with screenshots from the video led AFP to articles from various Spanish media, featuring videos and photos of El Chucho Beach and reports about the arrival of migrants (for example here, here, here and here). 

According to this article in the local daily Diario Sur, on September 19, 2024, "around 30 migrants of Maghrebi origin" arrived on the beach of El Chucho in Nerja. "The occupants, mostly middle-aged men from Morocco... jumped into the water a few metres from the shore and the boat fled at full speed". They then dispersed. "The Guardia Civil and local police were deployed to try to locate them, the report said. 

AFP found common elements between the video shared on Greek social media and this video published by Canal Sur, which is part of Radio y Televisión de Andalucía (RTVA), the public broadcasting company of Andalusia. In the screenshots, AFP highlighted the matching elements in yellow: a light blue beach umbrella and two women seated at a comparable distance. The woman on the right side of the image is wearing a light-coloured hat.

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Screenshots showing similarities between the video with the false claim on Facebook (left) and a similar video published in Spanish media (right). AFP has marked in yellow the similar elements. Images captured: 24/9/2024

Additionally, AFP geolocated El Chucho beach and identified two more features confirming the location of the beach in the video -- the shape of some rocks and the yellowish tiling of the beach wall. 

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Screenshots showing two common features between the video with the false claim on Facebook (left) and a Google Street View from the beach (right). AFP has highlighted in yellow the similar elements. Images captured: 23 & 24/9/2024

The earliest version of the video shared by Facebook users that AFP could find originates from a TikTok account called "@seniorita.elina". The account makes no mention of where the footage was taken. 

Spain is a primary entry point for migrants attempting to reach Europe, with most of them making the journey to the Canary Islands, off the northwestern coast of Africa (archived here). 

So far this year, more than 35,800 irregular migrant arrivals by sea were registered in Spain, an increase of 45.6 percent compared to the same period in 2023, according to interior ministry figures (archived here). 

According to the latest barometer of the Spanish Centre for Sociological Research (CIS) published on September 18, 2024, immigration has become the primary concern for Spanish people (archived here).