Police in Indonesia’s West Java province have debunked a false online claim that a teenage victim of a double murder was still alive. The video – which was viewed millions of times across multiple social media posts – included edited clips of the teenager’s father, the country’s police chief and a TikTok user who said he had been wrongly identified as the victim.
“I want to deeply apologize and clarify that our son is still alive and already married,” a man says in a video posted on Facebook on August 12, 2024.
The accompanying text to the Indonesian-language video reiterates the claim that Muhammad Rizky, who was killed along with his girlfriend Vina Dewi Arsita in 2016, is “still alive.”
The video – viewed more than 3,000 times – also includes a silent clip of a man speaking into the camera against a black background.
It begins with footage of Listyo Sigit Prabowo, Indonesia’s national police chief, saying: “In order to speed up the arrest, we ask (him) to come (to the station) and I suspect the chief of the criminal investigation department sent the summons.”
Similar videos were also shared on Facebook here and here, on TikTok here, and on SnackVideo here, here and here, garnering more than 12 million views in total.
The double murder in Cirebon, Indonesia’s West Java province, has attracted renewed public attention after a horror film inspired by the case was released in May 2024.
The police have long been criticized for their handling of the murders. According to the 2017 verdict of the Cirebon court, the two men were beaten and 16-year-old Arsita was raped by a gang of motorcyclists.
The video circulating in August 2024 does not prove that Rizky, also known as Eky, is still alive.
Edited Videos
West Java police confirmed to AFP that the video was a hoax.
“According to the facts, two people died in this case, namely Eky and Vina,” spokesman Jules Abraham Abast told AFP on August 19.
Reverse image and keyword search on Google traces the footage of Rizy’s father to a video posted on TikTok by Indonesian broadcaster RTV (archived link).
“I would like to make a clarification about the spread of false news and mention that my son Muhammad Rizky is still alive and already married. I confirm that the news is not true, a slander. Once again, the news is not true,” Rudiana says 16 seconds into the clip.
“Our son, Muhammad Rizky, died unnaturally,” adds Rudiana, who has only one name.
Below is the comparison between the fake video (left) and the video from RTV’s TikTok account (right):
The clip of a man against a black background shown in the video comes from a separate post by TikTok user Bambang Irawan, who attempted to combat disinformation about his apparent connections to the case, but his footage was subsequently re-shared in a misleading manner.
“I want to clarify the recent viral allegations against me claiming that I look like Eky. However, I don’t know Eky at all. My real name is Bambang Irawan,” he says (archived link).
Below you can see the comparison between a clip from the fake video (left) and the original video from Bambang’s TikTok account (left):
The clip of the Indonesian police chief talking about illegal gambling was published on YouTube by local broadcaster Kompas TV Jawa Timur on July 27, 2024 (archived link).
He did not mention the murder case in the footage.
Additional footage used in the fake video comes from a news report about a raid on a regional police officer because of an alleged affair (archived link).
AFP has already verified misinformation about the murder case here, here and here.
