AI video of Perak cable car dupes elderly couple into travelling 300km for ride

Hoping to visit a cable car attraction featured in a social media clip, an elderly couple in Malaysia made the more than 300km journey from Kuala Lumpur to Perak before finding out that the video was AI-generated and that the ride did not exist.

- Rhea Yasmine

A hotel worker who broke the news to the couple detailed the incident in a post on Threads on June 30, saying that their experience had shocked her.

"(The couple) came to check into the hotel, and they asked if I've ridden the cable car at Kuak Hulu. I thought they were just kidding," said the worker. Kuak Hulu is a kampung in Gerik, Perak.

But she soon realised the couple were serious when the elderly woman told her that they had travelled all the way from Kuala Lumpur for it.

The fake cable car is depicted in a nearly three-minute-long AI-generated video in which a journalist from "TV Rakyat" appears to introduce the attraction and interview visitors, including tourists from Thailand.

The video also features scenes of people queueing up at the "Kuak SkyRide" ticket counter.