Staff Reporter:
Fact-checking body Rumor Scanner in an investigation has revealed that the Binance account screenshots circulating in the names of the interim government’s advisers, the press secretary, and leaders of the July-August uprising are fake.
In a report published on its website on Friday, the fact-checking organization said these screenshots have been created through technological manipulation and are being circulated, citing an unreliable source.
These viral screenshots are being spread, claiming that the accounts in the names of the relevant individuals have a huge amount of Bitcoin deposited, amounting to hundreds of crores of taka.
According to the screenshots, the account in the name of the Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary, Shafiqul Alam, has 93.06 Bitcoin, with a market value of about $10 million (Tk1 billion).
Similarly, the account in the name of recently resigned adviser Md Nahid Islam has been claimed to have 204.64 Bitcoin, which is equal to $19 million (Tk2.2 billion).
The account in the name of Adviser Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain holds 113 Bitcoins, valued at approximately $12 million (Tk130 crore). The list also includes an account in the name of Sarjis Alam, reportedly containing 77.69 Bitcoins, with a market value of around $7.76 million (Tk90 crore).
On the other hand, those manipulated screenshots also claimed that the account in the name of Khan Talat Mahmud Rafi has 11.09 Bitcoins, which is estimated to be worth $1.1 million (Tk13 crore).
Ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, has made a post with the screenshots.
In addition, several Indian media outlets have also published news based on this claim.
An investigation into the source of this viral claim has shown that it is being circulated, citing an alleged online portal named ‘The AsiaPost News’.
The claim was made in a report published on the portal on 25 February titled “Corruption allegations against officials of the interim government of Bangladesh: Bribes and illegal money stored in Bitcoin” (translated from English).
An investigation into the aforementioned portal revealed that it published a report for the first time on 20 November 2023.
Although the word ‘Asia’ is attached to its name, the portal has not published any news about any other Asian country except Bangladesh. In addition, its social media activities are also very limited.
There are only 33 followers on the Facebook page, and only 8 followers on the X (former Twitter) account. The website is also being run through a WordPress blog, with no editor, publisher or director, and not even an office address.
Domain analysis showed that it was registered on 25 October 2024, in the aftermath of the July-August uprising in Bangladesh.
Rumor Scanner also verified screenshots of Binance accounts that were circulated with the report after ‘The AsiaPost News’ was found to be unreliable. The analysis showed that these were taken while the relevant account was logged in. The screenshots show ‘Deposit’ and ‘Log-out’ options, which are usually visible only after logging in. In addition, according to Binance rules, it is not possible to view someone’s account balance using only the user ID. To view the balance, you have to log in to the account, go to the “Wallet” option, and then see “Overview”.
A technology analyst, who did not want to be named, told Rumor Scanner that the Binance screenshots circulating on social media are completely fake. In his words, “Those who have minimal knowledge about Binance, crypto, or technology will know right away that it is fake. Because it is not possible to know someone’s account balance using just the user ID.”
Explaining the method of creating these screenshots, he said, “These screenshots are actually created using the browser’s ‘Inspect Tool.’. This is a tool through which the website code can be temporarily changed.
As a result, it is possible to edit the visual content of any website and show fake information at will, which may look credible in the screenshot but is not accurate in reality.”
Explaining the technique of creating fake screenshots, the analyst showed the Rumor Scanner team a sample.
He created another screenshot similar to the screenshot circulated in the name of Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam.
In this, all the account information was left unchanged, and only the name was changed to Sajeeb Wazed.
In addition, the Rumor Scanner team had been closely monitoring the post on Sajeeb Wazed’s Facebook page since it was published. Immediately after the post, most Facebook users in the comments section claimed that the screenshots were fake. Various technology analysts also questioned the credibility of the screenshots. In view of this, Sajeeb Wazed deleted the post within an hour.
Therefore, the claim spread regarding the screenshots of Binance accounts in the names of the advisors, press secretaries of the interim government, and leaders of the July-August movement is completely false and baseless.
