What was claimed
An image shows Thai police officers after making an arrest while undercover wearing drag.
Our verdict
This image is fake. It’s an AI-edited version of a genuine photo in which the officers are wearing t-shirts and trousers.
Image of Thai police officers ‘undercover wearing drag’ is fake
A viral image supposedly showing a group of Thai police officers who arrested a suspect while “undercover wearing drag” has been edited using AI.
The image was originally posted on Facebook on 21 May by the Tha Luong police station in Lopburi, Thailand, and appears to show four men and a woman in costume surrounding a suspect in handcuffs.
As reported by Press Gazette, the image was widely covered as real by a number of media outlets that claimed the officers had gone undercover by dressing in drag to catch the suspect. It’s also been shared on Facebook with captions similarly suggesting it’s real.
However, in a subsequent Facebook post the police station shared the original version of the image, which shows the officers wearing t-shirts and trousers, and does not include the woman sat next to the suspect, with a caption (in Thai) saying: “Here is the real deal, everyone—it’s AI. Just letting you know.”
The image of the officers wearing costumes contains a SynthID watermark—indicating that it was edited using Google’s AI tools—while the image showing them in normal clothes does not.
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The station’s Facebook page administrator, Rachata Mitrsuripong, told the French fact checking organisation AFP Fact Check: “I wanted to create a friendlier image of the police, showing a cute and humorous side, so that people would feel more comfortable approaching officers”. He added that the other details included in the original post about the arrest were real, however.
Before engaging with content like this that you come across online, it’s important to consider whether it comes from a trustworthy and verifiable source. Our Full Fact misinformation toolkit contains tips on how to do this, and our guide to spotting AI fakes.