ISLAMABAD: Since Prime Minister Imran Khan launched a global fund raising campaign for building dam social media is abuzz with fake news stories about international personalities donating for the cause.
Those who were used for this purpose include, Pakistani-American billionaire Shahid Khan, Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg, former president Pervez Musharraf and several others.
Read More: Fake Mark Zuckerberg Twitter account makes $5 million pledge for Pakistan dam
The PM called on overseas Pakistanis to contribute $1000 each for a fund set up by the Supreme Court to build Diamer-Bhasha dam.
A fake Facebook page named ‘PTI Washington DC’ claimed that Shahid Khan has announced to donate 10 million dollars for the PM-CJ Dam Fund. This triggered a wave of false claims on social media by several celebrities making their contributions noted.
However, this proved fake. Senior PTI leader, Senator Faisal Javed Khan categorically stated that the Facebook page created in the name of PTI is fake and that such ill-intended moves by some people are damaging a very noble cause. He urged the masses to stop it for the sake of Pakistan.
Talking to Geo News anchor Munib Farooq, Javed said the government has received a very positive response from the overseas Pakistanis and hopefully the campaign will be able to generate enough funds for the water reservation project.
Mainstream media too fell for it and run the news story as ‘Breaking Story’.
An imposter pretending to be Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg also made a pledge to contribute $5 million for the dam fund.
The fake Twitter account cropped up two days after the announcement by the prime minister.
“Pakistan's new government is serious in making dams and I'm sure Imran Khan will make dams in his government. As humanity, #Facebook will also participate in the Dam Fund #Facebook will give 5 million$ in the #PMDamFund,” the imposter tweeted.
In a second tweet, he said that he would soon visit Pakistan as an honest government was installed in the country.
“I will come to Pakistan very soon. We want to invest in Pakistan because there is a honest government in Pakistan,” he tweeted.
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