Coin-sale fake news lures Odisha, J'Khand, Raj residents to Kolkata
Odisha
, Assam, UP and even far off Haryana and Rajasthan queued up outside the Haldiram's outlet opposite CCFC, not to taste a vegetarian delicacy at thefood court on Sunday.
But they were lured by fake videos — shared by social media content creators — promising that they could fetch lakhs of rupees by selling old coins at the banquet hall above. A coin exhibition was underway there.
Many had travelled hundreds of kilometers to sell so-called "rare" currencies like 'Tractor Wala notes', 'Genda Chap 4 Annas', 'Mata Vaishno Devi' coins, only to learn that they had been taken for a ride by the YouTubers.
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Among those in the crowd was Umesh Singh from Bihar, who had come hoping to sell a few coins for lakhs of rupees that would then fund his daughter's wedding.
Ashok Kumar from Dibrugarh, Assam learned from the social media that organisers of the exhibition were buying 10 and 20 paise coins for lakhs of rupees. There was also Dhiren Jain, a senior citizen from north Kolkata, who was jostling for space with the hope that he would mint a fortune.
Numismatic Society of Calcutta (NSC), the exhibition organisers, were initially stumped by the extraordinary interest in an annual show that usually attracts only those seriously interested in coins and currency notes. The maximum turnout in the past 40 years was 1,200 people two years ago. But on Saturday several thousands were thronging the gate, even threatening to break it down. "We had to make an SOS call to Karaya PS to manage the situation that was getting out of control," said NSC joint secretary, Vinod Jaiswal.
After failing to explain that the information they had was false, the cops announced that the exhibition was shut for the day. It took another hour-and-a-half to disperse the crowd. Around 10 cops led by a sub inspector and 15 volunteers from NSC were deployed to manage the queue that branched out in opposite directions, one towards Ballygunge Phari and the other towards Ballygunge Park Road. "For a few views and petty earnings, fake YouTubers are spreading misleading narratives. We have to start a campaign to counter the spread of fake news," said Jaiswal.
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