Many photos and videos related to Thailand have been posted and shared on social media, including photos or videos that are not specified whether they are real or fake either. Meanwhile, a photo showing a small island with a house built at the top was posted on a Facebook page recently. This photo may be believed to be real as it has been shared and reacted with mixed comments many times by Facebook users. However, after running a Google Reverse Image Search, it proves that the photo described above is altered.
This is about our investigation of this photo.
Social Media Claim
On March 13, 2022, one of the Facebook pages called “Beautiful Craft” posted a photo depicting the view of an island with a building on top along with a staircase. The photo above may be believed by some Facebook users to be a real photo as there are thousands of reactions, shares, and comments made by many Facebook users.
Below is a snapshot captured from the Facebook page above showing a house built on top of the island.
Fact Check
Fact Crescendo Cambodia had started to check and verify this photo directly by running a Google Reverse Image search, which brought us to the sources containing the following photos.
An exact photo of the same format and shape was found on Istockphoto, an online royalty-free, international microstock photography provider based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The photo published on this website does not show the view of the house built on top of the island unlike the photo posted by the above Facebook page at all.
The following is a screenshot image captured from the website above which was written in English as “Ao Phang Nga National Park. Located near Phuket in Thailand. Famous landmark and famous travel destination”.
Istockphoto Link | Archived Link
Likewise, a photo showing the same angle of this island can also be found on the Alamy website. This website has provided detailed information about the above photo in English as “James Bond Rock in the Phang Nga Bay, Thailand, Asia”.
Where is James Bond Island?
James Bond Island or Tapu Island is located in Phang Nga Province, Thailand which approximately is about 40 km from Phuket. This island is well-known for its Hollywood movie film called “The Man with the Golden Gun” which has been broadcasted since 1974.
An additional image from Google Map shows an overall view of James Bond Island, which does not show a view of the house built on top of the island at all.
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You may find the details of this fact-check in Khmer language here as well.
Conclusion
Fact Crescendo Cambodia found that the photo shared by the above Facebook page was false. It was altered before posting on social media platforms. This photo is known to be James Bond Island or Tapu Island which is in Phang Nga province, Thailand. This island does not have a house built on top of the island at all.
