CCTV footage of an armed robbery in Brazil has circulated in social media posts that falsely claimed it showed a Burmese resistance fighter who “saved a foreigner” from a thief in Myanmar’s commercial hub.<\/h3>\n
The video of an armed robber stealing a mobile phone and fleeing the scene before being shot by another man has gained 38,000 views after it was shared on Facebook<\/a> on May 13.<\/span><\/p>\n “Said it happened in North Dagon. I am not sure if that’s true but they said a PDF saved a foreigner,” reads the Burmese-language caption, referring to the People’s Defence Force<\/a>, which was formed after a 2021 coup that has led to four years of conflict, spurring mass displacement and poverty\u00a0(archived link<\/a>)<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n Screenshot of false Facebook post taken on May 20, 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A devastating earthquake that struck in March killed 3,800 people and worsened<\/a> the humanitarian situation, while the junta has continued to strike<\/a> civilian targets despite a purported ceasefire to help the country recover from the disaster<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>(archived links here<\/a> and\u00a0here<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n Similar posts<\/a> claiming the video of the robbery was shot in Myanmar<\/a> also emerged on Facebook<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, a reverse image search<\/a> on Google using keyframes from the video found the incident took place in Brazil.<\/span><\/p>\n Broadcaster CNN Brasil published an uncropped version of the video in a report <\/a>on March 4<\/span>\u00a0(archived link<\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n The report’s headline reads: “<\/span>Video: student is robbed as he leaves the gym and off-duty police officer retaliates.”<\/p>\n