Video is From New York, Not Lebanon
The Claim
A new kind of theft in front of a supermarket in Lebanon.
News posted on
Emerging story
Several days ago, a video spread on social media several days ago depicted a person stealing an item from a woman's car after pushing a shopping cart to hit her car from the back. At the same time, he hid under a parked truck.
Some users claimed the incident took place in a parking lot of a supermarket in Lebanon.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation found the circulating false. The video is not in Lebanon, as claimed. Instead, in New York City, in the United States of America, specifically near the Hanyang Supermarket parking lot on the North Avenue in the Flushing District in the Queens area.
Using Google Maps search, we found the original address of the supermarket, which is in Flushing. While wandering around the supermarket near the supermarket, a picture found shows a truck parked near the supermarket at its rear entrance. It shows the same logo on the car that appears in the broadcast video: sesame oil & perilla oil.
The video falsely shared due to the cash robberies that started since the deepening economic crisis destroyed the Lebanese pound's value and led to banks blocking dollar withdrawals.
In October 2019, the Lebanese Central Bank banned the withdrawal or transfer of previously deposited dollars to avoid a run on the banks. As a result, dollars became increasingly scarce.
The crisis led many Lebanese to withdraw money from their bank accounts and hide cash savings in their homes.
