"Octopus Flying in Typhoon"... Fake Photo Causes Customer Drop, Merchants in Tears

Fake News About Typhoon Spreads Online
Local Merchants Suffer from Reservation Cancellations
Broadcast Station's YouTube Channel Also Reports Fake Photos

On the 10th, when the 6th typhoon 'Khanun' made landfall on the southern coast, past typhoon damage photos spread online as if they were current, causing local merchants to complain about the damage. Consumers, seeing the fake photos, are overestimating the typhoon's power and canceling reservations one after another.

Photo by Online Community

Most of the fake photos are from the 2022 typhoon 'Hinnamnor'. The dates on the old photos were even manipulated to increase credibility. Since concerns about Khanun were high, the fake photos quickly spread through popular online communities, SNS (social networking services), and KakaoTalk group chats without time to verify their authenticity.

These fake photos have become so common that they appear every time a major typhoon approaches. A representative example is a photo of an octopus stuck to the glass window of a high-rise building in Busan Marine City.

The YouTube channel 'Cyber Rekka' (a slang term referring to those who profit by broadcasting accidents or controversies online) also added to the confusion. Numerous video contents pieced together from these photos were uploaded. Some of these videos made from fake photos were even exposed on a YouTube account operated by a broadcasting company.

The problem is that merchants in areas where locations can be guessed or signs are visible in these photos are suffering damages.

Photo by Online Community

A, who runs a sashimi restaurant in the area, claimed, "Fortunately, there was no significant damage when Khanun made landfall in the region, but customers who saw the fake photos expressed anxiety and canceled reservations, causing losses to the business."

He expressed fatigue, saying that after the reservations were canceled one after another, calls asking about their well-being kept coming nonstop due to the fake photos.

It is not that there was no damage at all in the Busan area. As of 2 p.m. that day, the Busan Fire and Disaster Headquarters received 270 damage reports, but most were limited to fallen signs or trees.

Along the coast from Haeundae to Songdo in Seo-gu, unlike during last year's typhoon Hinnamnor, there was no wave overtopping damage over the breakwaters.

The 6th typhoon Khanun passed over land about 50 km northeast of Ganghwa after crossing the Military Demarcation Line around 1 a.m. on the 11th, then weakened into a tropical depression near Pyongyang, North Korea, around 6 a.m. on the 11th and dissipated.