#FactCheck- Old Kerala church raid video falsely shared with exaggerated ₹7000 crore cash seizure claim

Introduction

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Over the last few years, several public data breaches in Venezuela have revealed a lack of cohesion and progress in its data privacy system and left many people susceptible to fraud, identity theft and long-term harm via the internet. It is clear from these data breaches that when organizations fail to adequately protect their data, both through cybersecurity failures and weak legal protections, they can lead to problems throughout an entire system through which all individuals in the system could potentially suffer.

Among the more notable breaches are the Movistar Venezuela data breach from 2025 and the Cashea App data leak from earlier this year. Each of these examples demonstrates to some extent how the absence of an adequate privacy regulatory scheme can worsen the results of a data breach.

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The Movistar Breach: A Regulatory Warning (2025)

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Venezuelan digital rights group VE Sin Filtro published a report late in April 2025, which found a database revealed to have been opened onto the internet containing personal information belonging to over 3.2 million Movistar customers. The initial breach contained personal, and confidential, data of Venezuelan citizens such as national identification numbers, full names, city of residence, and phone numbers which could have been exploited to commit identity theft, SIM-swap fraud, and targeted scams.

One significant issue with this situation was that Movistar failed to disclose the breach publicly or contact impacted customers at the time of the disclosure. As a result, there appears to be a significant gap in Sanctions / Other Means of Enforcing Security Countermeasures Laws. Since there are numerous countries that enforce GDPR-style regulations and as such, this matter should lead to a complete investigation and possible fines against those responsible but in Venezuela there is still a lack of accountability.

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Cashea App Leak: A 2026 Data Shock

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A second alleged data breach came to light in February of 2026. It involved a Venezuelan buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) fintech called Cashea App, which is typically heavily utilized domestically. Reports have circulated that threat actors have been offering a database, believed to hold more than 79 million transaction records. This is more than double the size and sensitivity of the data involved in the Movistar Breach.

According to reports, the leaked data included:

1. Bank account details and payment methods
2. Merchant profiles and internal business identifiers
3. Detailed transaction histories with names, national ID numbers, timestamps, and installment data

This level of exposure goes far beyond basic identifiers. Financial transaction histories combined with personal identifiers enable sophisticated fraud, targeted social engineering, and long-term misuse of financial identities. As with the Movistar breach, no official acknowledgment or notification was issued by Cashea at the time of reporting, again underscoring Venezuela’s weak enforcement environment.

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Why These Breaches Matter: The Legal Dimension

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The incidents show us that there is a bigger problem with the way Venezuela has set up its framework for protecting data. For instance, the Venezuelan Constitution recognises the principles of data protection and privacy; however, these rights only exist in a theoretical manner; they lack implementing legislation, procedural clarity, and institutional enforcement.

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Constitutional Basis of Data Protection

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The Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) stated the core principles for protecting data are found in the Venezuelan Constitution. After the TSJ issued its 2011 ruling, Article 28 of the Venezuelan Constitution gives individuals the right to know what data the state has about them, how the state uses that data, and to correct or delete any harmful data. Article 60 of the Venezuelan Constitution protects individuals' privacy and restricts excessive data collection by the state.

The Constitutional Chamber also put into place additional guiding principles for how to protect personal data, including:

1. The data subject must give prior informed and revocable consent.
2. The purpose for which the data is collected must be specified and only the minimum amount of information necessary can be collected.
3. The data collected must be accurate and of good quality.
4. There are confidentiality obligations for third parties regarding the use of the data.
5. It is the government's responsibility to put into place procedures and mechanisms to monitor compliance with the data protection laws.
6. There are civil, criminal and administrative liabilities for individuals and legal entities that violate the data protection laws.

But, in a civil law country, when courts make rulings, they usually are persuasive only as opposed to being legally binding, and even constitutional rulings cannot be implemented until enabling legislation is passed.

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Absence of a Comprehensive Data Protection Law

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In contrast to the European Union's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), the United States' sectoral approach, and emerging Latin American data protection systems such as the ones in Brazil, Chile and Colombia, Venezuela has no independent data protection law. This lack of law leads to numerous types of uncertainty in the realm of data protection laws:

1. No defined data controller or processor obligations
2. No standardized lawful bases for processing
3. No clear breach notification timelines
4. No independent data protection authority
5. No procedural pathway for individuals to seek redress

As a result, data protection in Venezuela is not treated as an independent legal discipline but instead becomes derivative, arising incidentally within constitutional litigation or sector-specific disputes.

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Regulatory Fragmentation and Institutional Weakness

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Due to the TSJ decisions made in 2011, there has been a lack of regulatory action taken in a systematic fashion and instead most actions have been done on a case by case basis as valid incidents arise. The National Cybersecurity Council was established in 2024; however, its function is to support the establishment of cybersecurity infrastructure and has no defined powers regarding the enforcement of privacy.

This creates a fragmented institutional landscape where:

1. Authorities lack clear jurisdiction over privacy violations
2. Companies face minimal compliance guidance
3. Individuals struggle to understand or enforce their rights

The Movistar and Cashea incidents highlight how this fragmentation translates into practical impunity following major data exposures.

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What’s Next? A Legal Opportunity for Reform

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The repercussions of insufficient safeguards for data protection extend past the damage incurred to a person's privacy:

1. Loss of trust in both financial and digital services
2. Heightened likelihood of financial fraud and crime
3. Lack of willingness from foreign companies to conduct business with Venezuela’s platforms.
4. Long-term negative impact on the reputation of domestic companies.
5. Possible inability to access cross-border transfer of data due to other jurisdictions’ decisions to restrict transfers into jurisdictions without cutting-edge enforcement of protections for privacy.

In a digital economy that increasingly requires robust data protection to function successfully, a lack of action to create strong protections will cause a significant economic impact.

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Conclusion

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Major data breaches such as the ones at Movistar in 2025 and Cashea App in 2026 show that constitutional privacy rights alone are insufficient without enforceable legal framework. Privacy laws must move from being just a principle to being a law that has institutions, procedures, and accountability to make sure the privacy of the users is protected.

Now with the global digital economy being so interconnected, not having regulations creates openings for vulnerabilities for people. If Venezuela hopes to protect their citizens, create an innovation-friendly environment, and compete in the global market, they must implement comprehensive data privacy reforms as soon as possible.

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REFERENCES 

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1. https://iapp.org/news/a/venezuela-data-breach-highlights-scattered-privacy-regulation
2. https://www.apolocybersecurity.com/en/blog-posts/ciberataque-a-movistar-que-ha-pasado-a-quien-afecta-y-como-proteger-tus-datos
3. https://darknetsearch.com/knowledge/news/en/cashea-app-data-leak-79m-records-exposed-in-venezuela/
4. https://www.binance.com/en-IN/square/post/294369884695410

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Introduction

Cybersecurity threats have been globally prevalent for quite some time now. All nations, organisations and individuals stand at risk from new and emerging potential cybersecurity threats, putting finances, privacy, data, identities and sometimes human lives at stake. The latest Data Breach Report by IBM revealed that nearly a staggering 83% of organisations experienced more than one data breach instance during 2022. As per the 2022 Data Breach Investigations Report by Verizon, the total number of global ransomware attacks surged by 13%, indicating a concerning rise equal to the last five years combined. The statistics clearly showcase how the future is filled with potential threats as we advance further into the digital age.  

Who is Okta?  

Okta is a secure identity cloud that links all your apps, logins and devices into a unified digital fabric. Okta has been in existence since 2009 and is based out of San Francisco, USA and has been one of the leading service providers in the States. The advent of the company led to early success based on the high-quality services and products introduced by them in the market. Although Okta is not as well-known as the big techs, it plays a vital role in big organisations' cybersecurity systems. More than 18,000 users of the identity management company's products rely on it to give them a single login for the several platforms that a particular business uses. For instance, Zoom leverages Okta to provide "seamless" access to its Google Workspace, ServiceNow, VMware, and Workday systems with only one login, thus showing how Okta is fundamental in providing services to ease the human effort on various platforms. In the digital age, such organisations are instrumental in leading the pathway to innovation and entrepreneurship. 

The Okta Breach

The last Friday, 20 October, Okta reported a hack of its support system, leading to chaos and havoc within the organisation. The result of the hack can be seen in the market in the form of the massive losses incurred by Okta in the stock exchange. 

Since the attack, the company's market value has dropped by more than $2 billion. The well-known incident is the most recent in a long line of events connected to Okta or its products, which also includes a wave of casino invasions that caused days-long disruptions to hotel rooms in Las Vegas, casino giants Caesars and MGM were both affected by hacks as reported earlier this year. Both of those attacks, targeting MGM and Caesars’ Okta installations, used a sophisticated social engineering attack that went through IT help desks.

What can be done to prevent this? 

Cybersecurity attacks on organisations have become a very common occurrence ever since the pandemic and are rampant all across the globe. Major big techs have been successful in setting up SoPs, safeguards and precautionary measures to protect their companies and their digital assets and interests. However, the Medium, Mico and small business owners are the most vulnerable to such unknown high-intensity attacks. The governments of various nations have established Computer Emergency Response Teams to monitor and investigate such massive-scale cyberattacks both on organisations and individuals. The issue of cybersecurity can be better addressed by inculcating the following aspects into our daily digital routines: 

• Team Upskilling: Organisations need to be critical in creating upskilling avenues for employees pertaining to cybersecurity and threats. These campaigns should be run periodically, focusing on both the individual and organisational impact of any threat.  
• Reporting Mechanism for Employees and Customers: Business owners and organisations need to deploy robust, sustainable and efficient reporting mechanisms for both employees well as customers. The mechanism will be fundamental in pinpointing the potential grey areas and threats in the cyber security mechanism as well. A dedicated reporting mechanism is now a mandate by a lot of governments around the world as it showcases transparency and natural justice in terms of legal remedies.  
• Preventive, Precautionary and Recovery Policies: Organisations need to create and deploy respective preventive, precautionary and recovery policies in regard to different forms of cyber attacks and threats. This will be helpful in a better understanding of threats and faster response in cases of emergencies and attacks. These policies should be updated regularly, keeping in mind the emerging technologies. Efficient deployment of the policies can be done by conducting mock drills and threat assessment activities.  
• Global Dialogue Forums: It is pertinent for organisations and the industry to create a community of cyber security enthusiasts from different and diverse backgrounds to address the growing issues of cyberspace; this can be done by conducting and creating global dialogue forums, which will act as the beacon of sharing best practices, advisories, threat assessment reports, potential threats and attacks thus establishing better inter-agency and inter-organisation communication and coordination.  
• Data Anonymisation and Encryption: Organisations should have data management/processing policies in place for transparency and should always store data in an encrypted and anonymous manner, thus creating a blanket of safety in case of any data breach.
• Critical infrastructure: The industry leaders should push the limits of innovation by setting up state-of-the-art critical cyber infrastructure to create employment, innovation, and entrepreneurship spirit among the youth, thus creating a whole new generation of cyber-ready professionals and dedicated netizens. Critical infrastructures are essential in creating a safe, secure, resilient and secured digital ecosystem. 
• Cysec Audits & Sandboxing: All organisations should establish periodic routines of Cybersecurity audits, both by internal and external entities, to find any issue/grey area in the security systems. This will create a more robust and adaptive cybersecurity mechanism for the organisation and its employees. All tech developing and testing companies need to conduct proper sandboxing exercises for all or any new tech/software creation to identify its shortcomings and flaws. 

‍Conclusion 

In view of the rising cybersecurity attacks on organisations, especially small and medium companies, a lot has been done, and a lot more needs to be done to establish an aspect of safety and security for companies, employees and customers. The impact of the Okta breach very clearly show how cyber attacks can cause massive repercussion for any organisation in the form of monetary loss, loss of business, damage to reputation and a lot of other factors. One should take such instances as examples and learnings for ourselves and prepare our organisation to combat similar types of threats, ultimately working towards preventing these types of threats and eradicating the influence of bad actors from our digital ecosystem altogether. 

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References: 

• https://hbr.org/2023/05/the-devastating-business-impacts-of-a-cyber-breach#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20the%20global%20average,legal%20fees%2C%20and%20audit%20fees.
• https://www.okta.com/intro-to-okta/#:~:text=Okta%20is%20a%20secure%20identity,use%20to%20work%2C%20instantly%20available.
• https://www.cyberpeace.org/resources/blogs/mgm-resorts-shuts-down-it-systems-after-cyberattack

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Executive Summary

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A purported clipping from an Australian newspaper is being circulated on social media with the claim that it published a report stating that people attended Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public event in Melbourne only because free roti and curry were being served. CyberPeace Research Wing’s research found the viral newspaper clipping to be fake and digitally edited. Our research revealed that The Age, the newspaper featured in the viral image, did not publish any such report in its July 10 edition. Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Melbourne, Australia, on July 8, after concluding his visit to Indonesia. On July 9, he addressed the Indian diaspora at Melbourne's stadium alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, with more than 30,000 people attending the event. The viral newspaper clipping falsely links this event to a fabricated headline claiming that “the crowd gathered because free roti and curry were being served.”

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Claim

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Sharing the purported newspaper clipping, an X user wrote:“Modi supporters go anywhere for free food! If there is anything left to disgrace the country, let us know. Free curry and roti were served using taxpayers’ money to gather a crowd at PM Modi’s event in Australia. Australian newspaper report.”

https://x.com/ssrajputINC/status/2075806767129235668

https://archive.ph/https://x.com/ssrajputINC/status/2075806767129235668 

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Fact Check

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To verify the authenticity of the purported Australian newspaper clipping, we first extracted keyframes and performed a reverse image search. During the research, we found that the original newspaper clipping had been posted on X by journalist Aman Sharma on July 10, 2026. The original clipping contained no such report as the one seen in the viral image. According to the caption of the post, the newspaper coverage was published by Australian newspapers during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Australia.

https://x.com/AmanKayamHai_/status/2075362478364787165/photo/3

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Since Prime Minister Modi's Melbourne event took place on July 9, we examined the July 10 digital edition of The Age. We found the same coverage on Pages 4 and 5 of the newspaper. However, there was no report mentioning that people attended the event because free food was being distributed. Instead, the space shown in the viral clipping actually carried a report about Australian Opposition Leader Angus Taylor's criticism of far-right Senator Pauline Hanson's One Nation party. https://edition.theage.com.au/shortcode/THE965/archive

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Our comparison confirmed that the viral image had been digitally altered, with the original news story replaced by fabricated text to falsely suggest that The Age had published such a report.

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Conclusion

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Our research found that the purported Australian newspaper clipping is fake and digitally edited. The Age did not publish any report claiming that people attended Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Melbourne event because free roti and curry were being served. The viral image has been manipulated to spread a false narrative and is being shared with a misleading claim.

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