How some Bangladesh media were fooled into thinking a 17-year-old broke White House debating records

On 29 March, a number of reputed news media outlets in the country began circulating a report saying a Bangladeshi schoolboy had broken all records in the US government's virtual parliamentary debate tournament organised by the White House.

The 17-year-old had reportedly won 144 consecutive debates, breaking all records set previously in the global tournament.

The Business Standard is not using the name of the boy as he is still a minor and also to save him from getting bullied – which is already happening if we are to take some of the comments on his Facebook into consideration.

The boy from Dinajpur, who was "physically-challenged" according to some reports, had been crowned the best debater out of 534 participants from different countries.

It was the kind of viral content many media outlets wait for. In this case, however, the entire thing was untrue: it could've been a scam or a figment of the boy's imagination entirely.

While conducting the boy's interview, the doubts started to creep in. The house of cards he had built began to crumble.

A victory manufactured, not manifested

During conversations with the boy, a couple of red flags began to surface immediately.

Firstly, there were no pictures of the event. The boy also could not furnish any screenshot from the event.

"I didn't take any pictures, because I didn't think I would win," he said.

He would have been given a medal by US President Joe Biden, but unfortunately, he didn't have a passport at the time, he said. 

As evidence of his victory, he sent a press release, purportedly from the White House.

The first line of the press release said, "In every election years, USA Government arranges Parliamentary Debates. For Updating and finding our Future Leaders, Whitehouse usually organizes a British Parliamentary or an Asian Parliamentary debates in every years."

Aside from the entire release being replete with grammatical errors, it also had no White House logo nor any signature.

Tellingly, the press release was hosted in the website address http://whitehouse.gov.unaux.com instead of just whitehouse.gov.

This website was also made on WordPress.

The press release also announced one, Holland Lop Michigan from Russia, as the champion of the debate.

Holland Lop Michigan is not a Russian name. It, however, is the name of a rabbit breeding enthusiast group from Michigan.

The second press release used a picture of a debating competition taking place. A quick reverse image search showed the photo was taken from a UCAS website.

It also said the website would be removed after 28 March according to the press release. 

Furthermore, looking into the website, it was found to not be hosted by any White House-related entities.

The Business Standard reached out to Acting US Embassy Spokesperson Bryan Schiller, who said, "I would refer you to the White House and the White House website for definitive information about any such program.  The announcements you sent me, however, do not appear authentic.  As you pointed out, there is no White House logo.  Plus, these are ".com" addresses, and the White House uses a ".gov" address: www.whitehousegov."

The White House website also had no information on such a tournament. There were also no medal-giving ceremony on the official Instagram page.

This clarified that the entire thing was a hoax.

A scammer or one scammed?

There were also concerns whether the boy had fallen prey to scamsters who used the debating tournament to get some money out of him.

Asked about this, the boy said he had not paid any registration fee, nor was he expected to in the future.

On his Facebook page, he shared a number of articles published on his victory in top dailies of the country.

His Facebook also has photos of the so-called certificates he received. The certificates also appear to be sloppily made. The signature of the US President is also forged.

The Business Standard recently reached out to the boy and his parents for comments.

Both said they had been victims of a fraud.

Speaking to The Business Standard, he alleged that he took part in an actual debating competition and did not know whether it was fake.

"I do not want to talk about it. But I have taken part in a competition and the organisers sent me certificates that looked real to me," he said.

His mother said, "He is a debater and like other competitions, he took part in this, too. My son did not know about its authenticity. We are victims of a fraud.

"We have received a few documents which my son shared on social media. Many media outlets published the news based on those documents without verifying anything."

The family expressed concerns about the boy's future as his studies and mental health may be hampered due to this undesirable situation.