Claim: Viral video from Pakistan shows a fraudulent vegetable seller who can be seen cheating the scales with a customer.
Fact: The video is actually from Egypt, and the vendor was eventually arrested by the Consumer Protection Department of the country.
On 19 March 2023, former Special Advisor to the Prime Minister for Tourism Coordination Azam Jamil uploaded a video on Twitter, with the captain “Kia thei. Kia ban gaye.” (Translation: What we were. What have we become), implying that this is a video from Pakistan. In replies to this tweet, several social media users pointed out that this video looks like it is from an Arab country, so we decided to fact-check it.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check found that a screenshot of the video was shared by a local Egyptian news website called Al-Marsad one year ago, with the caption that this viral video documents an Egyptian vegetable seller cheating the scale while selling to his customers. The article further said that the Egyptian Ministry of Interior had announced the arrest of the vegetable seller.
We also found the same video being shared on Akhbaralaan on 24 August 2021, with the headline “Trending Now | A cheating seller manipulates the scale. Watch how he does it (video)”.
The Facebook page of Sohag Governorate uploaded a post on 21 August 2021 showing images of the same vegetable seller being arrested with the caption: (Translated) “#now
#urgent After the response of the Consumer Protection Department and the Sohag Supply Investigation Department #Arresting the Al-Arif seller who was cheating on the scale and confiscating his scales.”
The official Facebook page of Egypt’s Ministry of Interior also uploaded a post on 21 August 2021 clarifying that through a viral video clip on social media, they were able to track down a fraudulent vegetable seller in the district of Sohag who also had a criminal record requiring his arrest in many cases. The post clarifies that the vendor was arrested, and he confessed to the crime.
Virality
The tweet was viewed 97,600 times and received 1,814 interactions and was shared with 161,504 followers on Twitter.
Conclusion: The video of a fraudulent vegetable seller video is from Egypt.