Misinformation alert: Video of 'kidnapped' child's body in ice box is actually drowned child

Misinformation alert: Video of 'kidnapped' child's body in ice box is actually drowned child

The spread of misinformation has taken internet users for a ride once again.

The dissemination of false story via viral Facebook posts and chain Whatsapp messages about a dead kid in an ice box have had people fooled. 

A viral video has been circulating since last Thursday (July13), which showed a the body of a purportedly kidnapped child in China, with the story that he had been left in a box of ice by organ sellers after they were done harvesting his organs.

A woman is sobbing over the dead child's body as she removes the ice piece by piece.

The post on Facebook has been shared over 7,500 times.

However, it has been reported that the incident has nothing to do with criminal related activities.

The boy had, in fact, drowned at a relative's house in Guangdong, and was transported back to his home packed in ice so that his body would not decompose in the summer heat.

Here in Singapore, the video has made its rounds via Whatsapp chain messages, accompanied with the caption "Kidnapped children boxed in ice to be transported and sold for their organs. Common in inhumane and materialistic China. So cruel and barbaric just to get rich quick."

Among the different types of speculation, there were also reports that the boy was carelessly placed in the box for a nap, and was accidentally frozen to death.

What is alarming, however, was that a large number of internet users bought these stories, expressing variations of sympathy and anger on the comment threads of each report.

"These organ traders deserve death. If they are ever caught, they should be executed!"Photo: Facebook
"I saw this yesterday, the boy's mother put him in a box for a nap and his father, thinking it was a box of vegetables, moved the box into a fridge. 
"Being a parent myself, this news makes me uneasy."
Photo: Hupu

Stay sharp folks, don't believe everything you see on the internet.

nicchew@sph.com.sg

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