A few days ago, there were several reports that a Canadian actor who underwent 12 plastic surgeries to resemble BTS's Jimin died in a hospital in Korea. The news was first reported by the British news media outlet Daily Mail and then picked up by a number of national and international websites.
However, it now turns out that the news was a hoax and there was no confirmation of the passing of a Canadian actor in South Korea, Variety reported. In fact, the actor, identified as Saint Von Colucci, may have never existed in the first place. Furthermore, his alleged publicist, Eric Blake, is nowhere to be found on social media or the web.
The news was sourced from two press releases that were sent directly to journalists and media outlets by a group called The Hype Company PR. Journalists received these releases in their inboxes through a bot called Nylas. The releases made several claims about the actor being discriminated against for his looks in Korea.
However, the hospital mentioned in the release doesn't exist and the company's website was set up just a few weeks before the actor's purported death.
The Variety report further found inconsistencies including the fact that Saint Von was said to be the son of Brazilian model Adriana Lima and a hedge fund CEO named Geovani Lamas. However, Lamas has little online presence and is, in fact, not the CEO of IBG Capital that the press release claimed him to be.
Meanwhile, evidence analyzed by Al Jazeera now shows that Von Colucci's life story appears to have been fabricated with images of him made using AI software. The actor has no online presence, except for an Instagram page under the name @papaxxzy that features blurry, hazy images, and no interaction with followers. There are no links to his music and other projects.
''Mis- and disinformation generated with the help of AI tools are certainly a reason for concern inasmuch as they will make the life of fact-checkers and journalists more difficult,'' Felix M Simon, a journalist and doctoral student at the Oxford Internet Institute, told Al Jazeera.
Further, the media in South Korea haven't found any police report about a Canadian actor dying due to complications from plastic surgeries.
Meanwhile, Daily Mail Online took down its article on Wednesday without any explanation or retraction notice.
