ST masthead, Fann Wong’s face in doctored image used in Facebook sponsored posts
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The posts featured a doctored photo with celebrity Fann Wong's face under the Straits Times masthead.
PHOTO: SCREENGRAB FROM COMPLAINT SINGAPORE/FACEBOOK
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SINGAPORE – A doctored image bearing The Straits Times International Edition’s masthead, with celebrity Fann Wong’s face edited onto a photograph, has surfaced on Facebook.
At least three sponsored posts on the social media platform are using the same image – that of Ms Wong’s face superimposed onto a photograph of a woman being arrested, with the ST masthead above it. The accompanying caption read: “She did not realise the camera was still filming… Is this the end of her career?”
It contradicts the attached link at the bottom of the sponsored posts, which read: “Lifestyle News: Fann Wong’s new bakes for NDP, 4-day sale event in the West”, and the URLs stated in the posts are not that of ST’s website – www.straitstimes.com.
Clicking on one such sponsored post, one is taken to a page that purportedly shows a Yahoo Life Singapore news article on Ms Wong celebrating Singapore’s 58th National Day with a tart created especially for the country. However, the URL to this article is not that of Yahoo Singapore’s.
This website’s domain was set up only on Sept 9.
Checks by ST show that the photograph was taken by the now-defunct Chinese daily Lianhe Wanbao and accompanied an ST story in November 2017, about a 26-year-old woman who was arrested for traffic- and drug-related offences.
ST also found that the sponsored posts are promoted by Facebook pages that are similar to one another.
All three pages – Bladder Health, Delightful Dunes and Whimsical Whispers – are business services with five-star ratings.
But they do not provide any details on their pages on what products or services they provide, and instead only shared random images and encouraging messages.
Additionally, reviews of all three pages were the same, even though they came from different users. All the reviews were by accounts with Vietnamese names.
The Facebook pages also listed phone numbers with the United States country code, as well as the Texas area code.
ST has contacted Facebook’s parent company Meta and Ms Wong for more information.
This is not the first time that images of Singaporean public figures or news sites have been misused in online ads.
On Sept 8, ST reported on an online advertisement that used the name and image of Leader of the Opposition and Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh.
It linked to an article that mirrored an earlier scam that used Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s name and picture.
In both instances, the articles were fake CNA reports about the individuals’ “latest investment”, which caused the Government and major banks alarm.
PM Lee had posted on Facebook in July that these advertisements featuring his name and image promoted crypto scams and urged the public not to respond to scams, fake news or ads similar to the screenshot he shared of the article.
Instead, he advised that such things be reported via the official ScamShield Bot on WhatsApp.
Separately, fake articles promoting a crypto trading platform were shared on various social media platforms between at least June and August.
The articles included the ST International Edition’s masthead and ST’s Japan correspondent Walter Sim’s byline and picture.
Also, in 2019, two fake advertisements were passed off as Facebook posts made by ST
