This Time, 'Fake Video' Sparks Chili Pepper Looting... Crowds Swarm Chinese Chili Fields

[Financial News] In China, after a post on social media claimed that people could pick chili peppers for free, a chili field was literally looted.
On the 25th (local time), Jimu News reported that earlier this month, a video was uploaded to Chinese social media stating, "You can pick chili peppers for free in the fields of Liujagou Village, Shaanxi Province."
In the video, a man claiming to be the owner of the field said, "Whoever picks them, they become theirs," adding, "I spent 30,000 yuan (about $4,400) growing these chili peppers, but I was only able to sell half."
After watching the video, people gathered in Liujagou Village with sacks and baskets. Some even loaded chili peppers into their cars.
Even though the actual owner of the chili field, Mr. Yang, shouted, "The claim that you can take them for free is false," and "This is theft," it was not enough to stop the crowd. The situation was only brought under control after police, road officials, and village administrators arrived on the scene and stopped people from taking the chili peppers without permission.
Some individuals returned the chili peppers they had taken, but most left without giving back the illegally obtained produce.
Mr. Yang told Jimu News, "I have no connection to the man in the video, and I never said people could take the chili peppers because I couldn't use them. I was actually looking for sales channels to sell them, so I don't understand why this happened."
The police arrested the man who spread the false information, and he was reportedly given seven days of administrative detention. He later reached a settlement with Mr. Yang and paid 5,000 yuan (about $730) in compensation.

This is not the first time that farms have suffered losses due to fake videos.
Around the same time, in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China, a video claimed that a cabbage field was no longer needed and people could take the cabbages. As a result, about 800 people came and took the cabbages.
In October, 150 tons of potatoes grown by a farmer in Poland disappeared over a weekend while the farmer was away. At that time, a video was posted on Facebook falsely claiming that Piotr, a farmer in Podkarpackie Voivodeship, Poland, was giving away potatoes for free.
y27k@fnnews.com Seo Yoon-kyung Reporter