Elderly couple travels to Perak for non-existent cable car, duped by AI-generated video

The Sun

2 days ago

AN elderly couple from Kuala Lumpur were left heartbroken after making a trip to Kuak Hulu, Perak, only to discover that a cable car attraction they saw online didn't actually exist.
The video that led them there was entirely generated using artificial intelligence (AI).
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The incident came to light after a Threads user, @dyaaaaaaa._, shared her encounter with the couple, who had checked into a hotel in Kuak Hulu and inquired about the cable car.
'There was this elderly couple who came to check in at the hotel, and they asked me,
'Have you gone on the cable car ride at Kuak Hulu?' I thought they were joking, so I replied, 'Didn't have time to go.'
'Then they told me they had come all the way from KL just to ride that cable car. I was stunned,' she wrote.
When she broke the news that no such attraction existed, the couple were in disbelief.
'I asked them, 'Are you serious?' and they said, 'Yes, really.' I felt so bad. I explained to them that the video they saw was AI-generated and fake.
'But the aunty said, 'No way, why would people lie like that?
'There was even a reporter in the video!'
Despite her repeated explanations, the couple struggled to accept the truth.
'Then the uncle turned to his wife and asked, 'So what now?' I asked them, 'Didn't you ask your children before coming here?' And he said, 'We were embarrassed to ask.'
'The aunty then said, 'But you should have commented on the video to say it's not true.'
'She said they saw the video on Facebook, but I saw it on TikTok. I don't even have a Facebook account,' her post read.
The situation worsened when the woman threatened to sue the 'journalist' featured in the AI-created footage, believing it was an actual news segment.
'She said she wants to sue the 'reporter' in the video. I told her, 'Aunty, the person in the video isn't real. It was all edited.' And she said, 'How could they do this to people?'
The Threads user concluded her post with a reminder to be vigilant and to check in on older family members who might be vulnerable to online misinformation.
'So please, if your parents love to travel, make sure to ask them where they're going. Otherwise, something like this could happen — they came all the way from KL to Perak for nothing.'
The AI-generated video, which is still circulating on platforms like TikTok and Facebook, uses convincing visuals and voiceovers mimicking news reports — making it difficult for some to distinguish fact from fiction.