Claim: The Sharif family stole expensive cutlery from a Saudi hotel, says the hotel’s management.
Fact: No such claim was made by the hotel management. The screenshots of 92 News and BBC News headlines claiming so are doctored.
On 27 April 2023, a Twitter user posted four photos of news headlines purportedly from 92 News and BBC News, claiming that the Sharif family, who are political rivals of the PTI, had stolen expensive cutlery from a Saudi hotel where they had stayed. The tweet was written in Urdu and condemned the Sharif family and their supporters over the alleged theft of expensive cutlery from a Saudi hotel.
WhatsApp forwards 92 News bulletin screenshots:
1st screenshot: “Hamare hotel ke qeemti chamchay aur glass ghayab hain. Saudi hotel ka dawa.”
2nd screenshot: “Khana kamray mein mangwaya lekin jab bartan wapas aye you us mein qeemti chamchay aur glass nahi thay. Hotel intizamia.”
“The Sharif family ordered food in the room but when the dishes came back, there were no precious spoons and glasses in them. Hotel management.” (BBC)
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check analyzed the images and found several errors that indicate they are fake. In Figure 1, we have highlighted the inconsistencies in the text alignment and image placement in the 92 News screenshot. In Figure 2, we have pointed out an obvious flaw in the purported BBC News bulletin, where the television next to the reporter is clearly reflected in the table in front of it, showing it originally displayed a BBC logo, which has had the news about the Sharifs superimposed on it.
In addition, Soch Fact Check searched for the original sources of these headlines on the websites of 92 News and BBC News but found no results. We also checked the social media accounts of these news outlets and did not find any posts related to this claim.
Lastly, Soch Fact Check searched for “fake bbc screenshot” on Google and found that one of the top results was about a viral incident when the BBC mistakenly showed “Manchester united is rubbish” on air in 2019. The screenshot claiming that Nawaz Sharif stole cutlery from a Saudi hotel uses the same footage from that broadcast, but with the text altered. The reporter has the same outfit and facial expression in both screenshots. This shows that the image has been tampered with using a photo editing app.
Virality
Tweets sharing this claim were found here and here
Conclusion: The posts sharing screenshots of 92 News and BBC News headlines about the theft are fabricated and there is no evidence that the Sharif family stole any cutlery from a Saudi hotel.