Astha Kaushik, journalist with ABP News, fell for a fake tweet on Saturday which appears to have been made in jest. In a screenshot she shared, a person with the username @lostgirl005 says that she has suffered a job loss recently and has therefore decided to open a dhaba where one can have a thali for only Rs 30. A photograph of the thali was attached.
The person decided to call it ‘Indu ka Dhaba’. Astha Kaushik bought the claim without any verification. She has since then deleted the tweet.
Indu had posted the tweet on the 14th of April and immediately, people had realised that she had made the tweet as humour. Users had pointed out the same on the 14th of April itself where another tweet of Indu revealed that she wanted to increase her reach on social media. Ironically enough, the user had tweeted the same from an iPhone.
I feel bad for all the people who genuinely wished her luck for the start up which is just there for the sake of attention. It's so easy to play with emotions online. https://t.co/QzWnAnb9DI pic.twitter.com/rCm8VZnmNj
— Teayakkad ☕🌼 (@komal_gattani) April 14, 2021
The trick appears to have worked as Indu has received over 40,000 ‘likes’ on the tweet and over 5,500 retweets. Quite clearly, Astha Kaushik did not bother to verify the authenticity of her claims and just went along with it. A lot of others have fallen for it too.
People also pointed out that the user had once claimed that her Dhaba was in Nepal and on a separate occasion, she claimed that it was in Kanpur.
Kitni badi Fr@udster hei ye
— 𝕭𝖍𝖆𝖜𝖓𝖆 🇮🇳 (@1MeraHindustaan) April 14, 2021
Till Afternoon u were telling Ppl.. Ur Dhaba is in Nepal…. Ab Kanpur.shift ho gya .. You Even changed your Live Location from Nepal to Kanpur..
Reach ke liye Kitna hir jaate hei Log
Robbing ppl of their Emotions.. Sh@me on you… pic.twitter.com/wPHJZ0jSdH
People mocked the ABP journalist for falling for the fake tweet.
Journalism: 🤡🤡 https://t.co/8XiHvSSmA6 pic.twitter.com/h9oVVvo7bM
— Faad Dunga BC (@naalaYUCK) April 17, 2021
Journalist lol https://t.co/uBFT2rRft4
— Yosha🍃 (@Blackdrug_) April 17, 2021
आप भी किस चक्कर में पड़ गई 😭😭😭😂😂 https://t.co/HU48xSLXMr
— अजय✒ (@juswanasay) April 17, 2021
The user probably did not realise that the tweet would blow up to this extent. The biggest red flag should have been the fact that the tweet was made from an iPhone. However, no harm appears to have been done as no financial transaction appears to have been involved.
