![]() South Korean media have reported that police have not received a case report involving a Canadian actor who died due to plastic surgery complications. The Canadian embassy in Seoul declined to comment when contacted by Al Jazeera. The story remains on the websites of dozens of other outlets, including The Independent in the UK, the Hindustan Times in India, the Malay Mail in Malaysia and Newsis in South Korea. The litany of red flags did not deter media outlets from rushing to cover Von Colucci’s bizarre demise, including sensational before-and-after surgery photos that appeared to show his transformation from a white man into a person with East Asian features.Īfter Daily Mail Online reported the story, it was quickly picked up by media outlets worldwide.ĭaily Mail Online quietly took down its article on Wednesday without any explanation or retraction notice. In a further twist, the K-pop star wannabe’s Instagram page was reactivated this week, with one comment edited two days after his reported death. Von Colucci’s images have tell-tale signs of AI manipulation Geovani Lamas does not have any official presence online, while the top search result for IBG Capital is an investment firm located in the US state of Arizona. In a press release circulated last year, Von Colucci was described as “the second son of Geovani Lamas, the CEO of IBG Capital, Europe’s top hedge fund company”. Von Colucci’s claimed music repertoire, including the album “T1K T0K H1GH SCH00L”, is not available on any mainstream music streaming service. Al Jazeera could not independently verify the authenticity of the images. Photos of Von Colucci online are blurry and contain strange features, including deformed hands in at least one case – a tell-tale sign of the use of AI.Ī post shared by image detection software, while having limitations, indicates that some of the photos have a high possibility of being produced or edited using AI software. ![]() The online footprint that does exist raises more questions. Al Jazeera was later sent a text message from the number saying, “Wtf do u want.”Īpart from the press release, there is little evidence that Von Colucci is a real person.ĭespite being described as a songwriter for a number of K-pop stars, Von Colucci did not have a significant online presence and no one has come forward to publicly mourn his death. When Al Jazeera attempted to call HYPE via the number listed, no one answered. HYPE’s website, which listed WeWork offices in London and Toronto as headquarters, appears to be unfinished and was registered only a few weeks before Von Colucci’s reported death. Many web links in the document would not load, including a link to Von Colucci’s supposed Instagram account, and the hospital mentioned in the press release does not exist. The press release announcing the death of Saint Von Colucci contained numerous red flags The press release contained numerous red flags, however. ![]() The press release, which was written in clumsily-worded English, purported to be from a public relations agency called HYPE Public Relations. The saga began earlier this week when journalists around the world received a press release announcing that Von Colucci had passed away at a hospital in Seoul on April 23. “Mis- and disinformation generated with the help of AI tools are certainly a reason for concern inasmuch as they will make the life of fact-checkers and journalists more difficult,” Felix M Simon, a journalist and doctoral student at the Oxford Internet Institute, told Al Jazeera. The debacle appears to be the first known case of AI being used to trick media outlets en masse into spreading misinformation, heralding the dawn of a new era of computer-generated fake news. The only problem is that Von Colucci may have never existed.Ī raft of evidence suggests he is the product of an elaborate hoax using artificial intelligence that fooled dozens of media outlets, stretching from the United States and Canada to the United Kingdom, South Korea, India, Malaysia and the Philippines. He was said to have recently secured a role in an upcoming Korean drama. Von Colucci was reported to have undergone 12 plastic surgeries, costing more than $200,000, to resemble BTS member Jimin and overcome discrimination “against his Western traits”. Seoul, South Korea – The news that Saint Von Colucci, a 22-year-old Canadian-Portuguese actor, singer, and songwriter with pull in South Korea’s entertainment scene, died after undergoing surgeries to look like a K-pop star set media abuzz.
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