A newspaper matrimonial advertisement of a bride seeking a groom on the condition that he is also vaccinated is fake. BOOM found that the viral clipping was created using a fake newspaper clipping generator website.
The fake clipping is dated June 4, 2021, and claims that a self-employed Roman Catholic woman who herself is vaccinated is seeking an alliance with a man of her faith on the condition that he is also vaccinated with both doses of Covishield.
The viral clipping was tweeted by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor with the caption, "Vaccinated bride seeks vaccinated groom! No doubt the preferred marriage gift will be a booster shot!? Is this going to be our New Normal?"
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NDTV and Scoopwhoop reported on Tharoor tweeting the viral newspaper clipping, without mentioning that it is fake. (Read here, here)
Viral on Twitter
The same newspaper clipping has been viral on Twitter with several users sharing it
BOOM also received the viral clipping on its WhatsApp helpline number (7700906111).
FACT-CHECK
We ran a reverse image search of the viral newspaper clipping which threw up links to Newspaper clipping generator tools that use the same format.
BOOM has previously debunked the similar fake newspaper clipping that was created using a newspaper clipping generator tool fodey.com which allows a user to generate a fake news clipping using the masthead of any newspaper one intends.
After entering the desired details, we found that the viral newspaper clipping matched with the fake newspaper clipping created using the tool.
Additionally, the font of the text is the same as well as the top-left edges of the paper match with the clipping generator.
The Indian Express reported on June 9, 2021, that the fake ad was created by Savio Figueiredo (58) from Aldona, Goa, to influence people to get the COVID-19 vaccine shot.
BOOM reached out to Figueiredo who stated that he had created the fake ad to encourage people in his village to take the vaccine. "There are several vaccine camps being organised and I saw many people are showing reluctance to take the vaccine. So on June 4, 2021, I put up a private post on my Facebook, I had added the fake matrimonial ad that I had created based on my daughter, and also posted other photos of document details on the vaccination drive and the age group that can avail it. It was meant only for my friends," said Figueiredo.
"Someone took only the fake advert photo and shared it after which it went viral and I was bombarded with calls from around the country and since it was meant for my friends I had mentioned my number in it," added Figueiredo.
Update: The article has been updated with a quote from Savio Figueiredo on the fake matrimonial ad.
