#FactCheck-Viral Video Falsely Claims ‘Civil War-Like Situation’ in Lucknow; Actually Shows Slum Fire
Executive Summary
A video showing a massive blaze is going viral on social media with the claim that it captures an “attack” in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, suggesting that the city is witnessing a civil war-like situation. However, a fact-check by the CyberPeace Research Wing has found the claim to be false and misleading.
Claim
The viral post was shared by an X (formerly Twitter) user ‘@hitorisenshi142’ on April 15, 2026, with an English caption alleging unrest and violence in Lucknow.
To verify the claim, keyframes from the video were extracted and subjected to a reverse image search. This led to a report published by News18 on April 16, 2026, which featured visuals matching the viral clip.
According to the report, the video actually shows a devastating fire that broke out in a slum settlement near Ring Road in Sector-12 of Vikas Nagar, Lucknow. The fire rapidly escalated, engulfing around 1,200 huts and leaving over 200 families affected in the nearly three-bigha area. Firefighting operations were extensive, with 22 fire tenders deployed to control the blaze. The situation was further aggravated as nearly 100 LPG cylinders stored in the huts exploded one after another, intensifying the fire and sending thick black smoke across the area.
Further confirmation came from the official X account of Lucknow Police, which shared an update on April 16, 2026. The police clarified that the incident was a fire outbreak in the Vikas Nagar area and that the situation had been brought under control.
- https://x.com/lkopolice/status/2044633511584567415?s=20
Conclusion:
The viral claim suggesting that the video depicts an attack or civil war-like situation in Lucknow is false. The footage is from a fire incident in a slum area and is being circulated with misleading context to spread misinformation.
Related Blogs
Executive Summary:
This report deals with a recent cyberthreat that took the form of a fake message carrying a title of India Post which is one of the country’s top postal services. The scam alerts recipients to the failure of a delivery due to incomplete address information and requests that they click on a link (http://iydc[.]in/u/5c0c5939f) to confirm their address. Privacy of the victims is compromised as they are led through a deceitful process, thereby putting their data at risk and compromising their security. It is highly recommended that users exercise caution and should not click on suspicious hyperlinks or messages.
False Claim:
The fraudsters send an SMS stating the status of delivery of an India Mail package which could not be delivered due to incomplete address information. They provide a deadline of 12 hours for recipients to confirm their address by clicking on the given link (http://iydc[.]in/u/5c0c5939f). This misleading message seeks to fool people into disclosing personal information or compromising the security of their device.
The Deceptive Journey:
- First Contact: The SMS is sent and is claimed to be from India Post, informs users that due to incomplete address information the package could not be delivered.
- Recipients are then expected to take action by clicking on the given link (http://iydc[.]in/u/5c0c5939f) to update the address. The message creates a panic within the recipient as they have only 12 hours to confirm their address on the suspicious link.
- Click the Link: Inquiring or worried recipients click on the link.
- User Data: When the link is clicked, it is suspected to launch possible remote scripts in the background and collect personal information from users.
- Device Compromise: Occasionally, the website might also try to infect the device with malware or take advantage of security flaws.
The Analysis:
- Phishing Technique: The scam allures its victims with a phishing technique and poses itself as the India Post Team, telling the recipients to click on a suspicious link to confirm the address as the delivery package can’t be delivered due to incomplete address.
- Fake Website Creation: Victims are redirected to a fraudulent website when they click on the link (http://iydc[.]in/u/5c0c5939f) to update their address.
- Background Scripts: Scripts performing malicious operations such as stealing the visitor information, distributing viruses are suspected to be running in the background. This script can make use of any vulnerability in the device/browser of the user to extract more info or harm the system security.
- Risk of Data Theft: This type of fraud has the potential to steal the data involved because it lures the victims into giving their personal details by creating fake urgency. The threat actors can use it for various illegal purposes such as financial fraud, identity theft and other criminal purposes in future.
- Domain Analysis: The iydc.in domain was registered on the 5th of April, 2024, just a short time ago. Most of the fraud domains that are put up quickly and utilized in criminal activities are usually registered in a short time.
- Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC, a reputable registrar, through which the domain is registered.
- DNS: Chase.ns.cloudflare.com and delilah.ns.cloudflare.com are the name servers used by Cloudflare to manage domain name resolution.
- Registrant: Apart from the fact that it is in Thailand, not much is known about the registrant probably because of using the privacy reduction plugins.
- Domain Name: iydc.in
- Registry Domain ID: DB3669B210FB24236BF5CF33E4FEA57E9-IN
- Registrar URL: www.godaddy.com
- Registrar: GoDaddy.com, LLC
- Registrar IANA ID: 146
- Updated Date: 2024-04-10T02:37:06Z
- Creation Date: 2024-04-05T02:37:05Z (Registered in very recent time)
- Registry Expiry Date: 2025-04-05T02:37:05Z
- Registrant State/Province: errww
- Registrant Country: TH (Thailand)
- Name Server: delilah.ns.cloudflare.com
- Name Server: chase.ns.cloudflare.com
Note: Cybercriminals used Cloudflare technology to mask the actual IP address of the fraudulent website.
CyberPeace Advisory:
- Do not open the messages received from social platforms in which you think that such messages are suspicious or unsolicited. In the beginning, your own discretion can become your best weapon.
- Falling prey to such scams could compromise your entire system, potentially granting unauthorized access to your microphone, camera, text messages, contacts, pictures, videos, banking applications, and more. Keep your cyber world safe against any attacks.
- Never reveal sensitive data such as your login credentials and banking details to entities where you haven't validated as reliable ones.
- Before sharing any content or clicking on links within messages, always verify the legitimacy of the source. Protect not only yourself but also those in your digital circle.
- Verify the authenticity of alluring offers before taking any action.
Conclusion:
The India Post delivery scam is an example of fraudulent activity that uses the name of trusted postal services to trick people. The campaign is initiated by using deceptive texts and fake websites that will trick the recipients into giving out their personal information which can later be used for identity theft, financial losses or device security compromise. Technical analysis shows the sophisticated tactics used by fraudsters through various techniques such as phishing, data harvesting scripts and the creation of fraudulent domains with less registration history etc. While encountering such messages, it's important to verify their authenticity from official sources and take proactive measures to protect both your personal information and devices from cyber threats. People can reduce the risk of falling for online scams by staying informed and following cybersecurity best practices.
Introduction
According to a shocking report, there are multiple scam loan apps on the App Store in India that charge excessive interest rates and force users to pay by blackmailing and harassing them. Apple has prohibited and removed these apps from the App Store, but they may still be installed on your iPhone and running. You must delete any of these apps if you have downloaded them. Learn the names of these apps and how they operated the fraud.
Why Apple banned these apps?
- Apple has taken action to remove certain apps from the Indian App Store. These apps were engaging in unethical behaviour, such as impersonating financial institutions, demanding high fees, and threatening borrowers. Here are the titles of these apps, as well as what Apple has said about their suspension.
- Following user concerns, Apple removed six loan apps from the Indian App Store. Loan apps include White Kash, Pocket Kash, Golden Kash, Ok Rupee, and others.
- According to multiple user reviews, certain apps seek unjustified access to users’ contact lists and media. These apps also charge exorbitant fees that are not necessitated. Furthermore, companies have been found to engage in unethical tactics such as charging high-interest rates and “processing fees” equal to half the loan amount.
- Some lending app users have reported being harassed and threatened for failing to return their loans on time. In some circumstances, the apps threatened the user’s contacts if payment was not completed by the deadline. According to one user, the app company threatened to produce and send false photographs of her to her contacts.
- These loan apps were removed from the App Store, according to Apple, because they broke the norms and standards of the Apple Developer Program License Agreement. These apps were discovered to be falsely claiming financial institution connections.
Issue of Fake loan apps on the App Store
- The App Store and our App Review Guidelines are designed to ensure we provide our users with the safest experience possible,” Apple explained. “We do not tolerate fraudulent activity on the App Store and have strict rules against apps and developers who attempt to game the system.
- In 2022, Apple blocked nearly $2 billion in fraudulent App Store sales. Furthermore, it rejected nearly 1.7 million software submissions that did not match Apple’s quality and safety criteria and cancelled 428,000 developer accounts due to suspected fraudulent activities.
- The scammers also used heinous tactics to force the loanees to pay. According to reports, the scammers behind the apps gained access to the user’s contact list as well as their images. They would morph the images and then scare the individual by sharing their fake nude photos with their whole contact list.
Dangerous financial fraud apps have surfaced on the App Store
- TechCrunch acquired a user review from one of these apps. “I borrowed an amount in a helpless situation, and a day before the repayment due date, I got some messages with my picture and my contacts in my phone saying that repay your loan or they will inform our contacts that you are not paying the loan,” it said.
- Sandhya Ramesh, a journalist from The Print, recently tweeted a screenshot of a direct message she got. A victim’s friend told a similar story in the message.
- TechCrunch contacted Apple, who confirmed that the apps had been removed from the App Store for breaking the Apple Developer Program License Agreement and guidelines.
Conclusion
Recently, some users have claimed that some quick-loan applications, such as White Kash, Pocket Kash, and Golden Kash, have appeared on the Top Finance applications chart in recent days. These apps necessitate unauthorised and intrusive access to users’ contact lists and media. According to hundreds of user evaluations, these apps charged exorbitantly high and useless fees. They used unscrupulous techniques such as demanding “processing fees” equal to half the loan amount and charging high-interest rates. Users were also harassed and threatened with restitution. If payments were not made by the due date, the lending applications threatened to notify users’ contacts. According to one user, the app provider even threatened to generate phoney nude images of her and send them to her contacts.
Executive Summary:
A viral image circulating on social media claims it to be a natural optical illusion from Epirus, Greece. However, upon fact-checking, it was found that the image is an AI-generated artwork created by Iranian artist Hamidreza Edalatnia using the Stable Diffusion AI tool. CyberPeace Research Team found it through reverse image search and analysis with an AI content detection tool named HIVE Detection, which indicated a 100% likelihood of AI generation. The claim of the image being a natural phenomenon from Epirus, Greece, is false, as no evidence of such optical illusions in the region was found.
Claims:
The viral image circulating on social media depicts a natural optical illusion from Epirus, Greece. Users share on X (formerly known as Twitter), YouTube Video, and Facebook. It’s spreading very fast across Social Media.
Similar Posts:
Fact Check:
Upon receiving the Posts, the CyberPeace Research Team first checked for any Synthetic Media detection, and the Hive AI Detection tool found it to be 100% AI generated, which is proof that the Image is AI Generated. Then, we checked for the source of the image and did a reverse image search for it. We landed on similar Posts from where an Instagram account is linked, and the account of similar visuals was made by the creator named hamidreza.edalatnia. The account we landed posted a photo of similar types of visuals.
We searched for the viral image in his account, and it was confirmed that the viral image was created by this person.
The Photo was posted on 10th December, 2023 and he mentioned using AI Stable Diffusion the image was generated . Hence, the Claim made in the Viral image of the optical illusion from Epirus, Greece is Misleading.
Conclusion:
The image claiming to show a natural optical illusion in Epirus, Greece, is not genuine, and it's False. It is an artificial artwork created by Hamidreza Edalatnia, an artist from Iran, using the artificial intelligence tool Stable Diffusion. Hence the claim is false.
