Photo Showing Try Pheap Holding Tree Altered
Environmental and natural resources have been becoming a new hot topic in Cambodia recently and it is being used by Cambodian online users. They make a criticism of the Royal Government of Cambodia, especially after three environmental activists have been recently arrested. Meanwhile, a photo showing a Cambodian tycoon, Try Pheap, holding a small tree was posted recently on Facebook. This photo depicts an overlaid text saying “Try Pheap, a forest ranger”. This post was reacted to with mixed comments and shared by Khmer-speaking social media users. However, after running a Google Reverse Image search and comparing photos from their original source, it proves that this photo is altered.
This is about our investigation of this photo.
Social Media Claim
On June 24, 2021, one of the Facebook users posted two photos, one of which was the photo of Try Pheap holding a tree with the caption “I love trees” printed on his T-shirt. Mr. Try Pheap has been known as the CEO of “Try Pheap Group”. This post has been shared several times in a row along with mixed comments from Khmer-speaking Facebook users as well.
The following image was captured from the user's post described in Khmer translated in English as “Techo era: Defenders of the environment, natural resources, and forest protectors become traitors, and loggers become tycoons and receive a medal”.
This photo was also found and posted on another Facebook page last year in July 2019. The photo posted from the Facebook page called in Khmer “សង្គមរស់ខ្ញុំរស់”, which is featured the photo of Try Pheap holding a tree along with a caption in Khmer which means “Try Peap has been planting trees for almost half of his life and was being accused as the one who destroys the forest, then who sell timber to Vietnam?”.
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.
This exact photo was found and posted on a Facebook page called “ខ្ញុំស្រលាញ់ដេីមឈេី” or “I Love Trees” on June 4, 2015. This original photo of the Facebook page above has been actually revealed about a person known as Nou Vichet, a graphic designer with his personal Facebook account known as “Pros Nix”. The following image was captured from the Facebook page along with the confirmation of the man's name also states as “I love trees by Mr. Nou Vichet”.
Facebook Post | Archived Link
Fact Crescendo Cambodia also found an original photo showing Try Pheap's face before it was being altered. An original photo captured from Try Palace Resort showed a photo of Try Pheap without showing him holding a tree at all.
Try Palace Resort Link | Archived Link
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You may find the details of this fact-check in Khmer language here as well.
Conclusion
Fact Crescendo Cambodia has found that the photo posted and claimed by the above user was altered. This photo had been edited before it was posted on social media. The original photo was first found in 2015 and the man depicted in the photo was actually “Nou Vichet”, a graphic designer.
