A fake news has started to spread on social media after the terrorist attack in Moscow, Russia that killed 40 people and injured 100 others. In some posts, a passport and an ID of a Ukrainian citizen were shared, allegedly behind this attack.
What is being shared on social networks?
An image of a Ukrainian ID card with the name Samuel Hydenko has been shared on many profiles and also by the media as being behind the Crocus City Hall attack in Moscow.
Analysis:
Everything is fake. The ID card number in the lower right corner consists entirely of zeros, as it is on sample Ukrainian ID cards. Online copies of these samples are readily available on Wikipedia and elsewhere. Also, the signature and expiration date on the suspected perpetrator’s ID card are identical to the online samples. Furthermore, the upper chest of the person in the photo is bare, which would hardly be acceptable to any authority. Also, the spelling of the last name in English does not follow the Ukrainian rules for transliterating names into the Latin alphabet.
This ID was also used earlier to spread misinformation. The image was used to misinform that Russian officials had found the perpetrator after the Kerch Bridge bombing in occupied Crimea in 2022.
/The Geopost