Pictures of a long queue and a man appearing to receive medical attention have been shared hundreds of times in Facebook posts that claim they show people at the IOI City Mall in Malaysia's Selangor state lining up to take advantage of a sale on air conditioners. The posts claim people can skip the long lines by visiting a website instead where they can provide personal information. The claims are false. IOI City Mall told AFP that no such event had taken place on its premises. The queue photo was shot at a mall in Vietnam in 2015, and the photo of the man was taken at a football ticket sale event in Indonesia in 2018.
The pictures were shared on Facebook here by a Malaysia-based user on September 26, 2022.
The pictures show a queue inside a shopping centre that appears to go around a banner of a portable air conditioner; a man being helped by medical personnel; and a stock image of a portable air conditioner -- the same model displayed in the first picture.
The Facebook post's Malaysian-language caption reads in part: "Rescue teams had to save hundreds of people from IOI City Mall. As thousands of people lined up to buy this high-tech Japanese air conditioner, the lack of oxygen caused many to pass out."
The IOI City Mall is located in the Malaysian state of Selangor, on the outskirts of the country's capital, Kuala Lumpur.
The post says there was a 50 percent discount on "HAIKAKIDO" brand air conditioners, as the brand had just opened its first branch in the shopping...
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