It's election season and old fake images are making a comeback.
One such image that has been revived is that of finger-casts with a caption that claims, 'Beware. Fake fingers being made for casting votes, I don’t know where we are going?'
The post makes a fervent appeal to voters to stay alert as "fake fingers" were being created by political parties to rig the election. However, no political party was named in any of the posts.
The post can be viewed here and its archived version can be accessed here.
The post, that has gone viral on Facebook and Twitter in the past few hours, had been earlier circulated in February 2017 as well.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search and found similar pictures, one of them in the form of a tweet shared from the verified handle of SY Quraishi, former Chief Election Commissioner of India.
Several twitter users had responded to Quraishi's tweet with the screenshot of a website akikofujita.com.
The headline reads 'Prosthetic fingers help reform Yakuza members'. However, the website mentioned in the tweet is not functional anymore.
We found a similar article by abcnewsabout prosthetic fingers created for Japan's feared Yakuza gangsters.
Who Are Yakuza?
Yakuza are members of organised crime syndicate in Japan. The Yakuza, according to reports, follow strict code of conduct and follow unconventional rituals, one of which is Yubitsume which has a direct connection to the viral post.
Yubitsume is a ritual to seek forgiveness by amputating a portion of the little finger.
Akiko Fujita, in her report, talks about prosthetic maker Shintaro Hayashi who manufactures prosthetic fingers for Yakuza members who want to become a part of the society again. However, as the severed fingers can easily identify them as former Yakuza members, these silicone finger casts help them conceal their mafia-connection.