This video shows an attempted robbery at a mattress store in Brazil

This article is more than one year old.
Published on July 9, 2021 at 05:32
Updated on November 3, 2021 at 09:57
2 min read
By AFP Singapore

A video has been viewed thousands of times in multiple posts on Facebook alongside a claim that it shows an armed robbery attempt at a clinic in Malaysia. The claim is false: the CCTV footage shows gunmen attempting to rob a mattress store in Brazil in June 2021.

The video was shared on June 25, 2021, here on Facebook, where it has been viewed more than 700 times.

Screenshot of the misleading post taken on July 1, 2021

The post’s caption reads: “Attempted ARMED ROBBERY at a clinic at Puchong, Malaysia on 8 June 2021.

“But the robbery was aborted when the doctor himself shot at the robbers.

“One robber escaped while the other received multiple gunshots...not sure of he survived though
Rabakzzzz sey (sic)”.

Puchong is a town in the Malaysian state of Selangor.

The video has been viewed more than 4,000 times after it was shared on Facebook with a similar claim here and here.

It also appeared here and here, with a claim that the incident happened in Johor Bahru, a city in Malaysia.

The claim, however, is false.

A reverse image search on Google found the video has appeared in this report from Brazilian news portal G1 on June 9, 2021.

The title, translated from Portuguese to English, states: “VIDEO: Shop owner reacts to robbery and shoots robbers who broke into mattress store in RO.”

RO stands for Rondonia, a state in northern Brazil.

The first two paragraphs read: “The owner of a mattress store shot two armed robbers who invaded his establishment, in the Nova Brasília neighborhood, in Ji-Parana (RO). CCTV cameras recorded the action.

“According to the police report, the case occurred on Tuesday afternoon (June 8), after the first criminal arrived at the establishment posing as a customer. As soon as the merchant's daughter opened the shop door, the man entered and announced the robbery.”

According to the report, one of the assailants died in hospital while undergoing surgery, while another one was located and arrested when he was asking for medical help in a neighbouring city.

The same video was also uploaded by Brazilian media Band Jornalismo here on its official YouTube channel on June 10, 2021.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (L) and the video in the G1 report (R):

Screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (L) and the video in the G1 report (R)

Malaysian police issued a statement on June 29, 2021, on its Facebook page here and here that the incident happened overseas, not in Puchong.

November 3, 2021 This story was updated to correct the translation of the news report about the second assailant.

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