In a strange yet sobering reminder of the digital age’s challenges, an elderly Malaysian couple recently travelled from Kuala Lumpur to a small village in Perak — all because they believed in a fake AI-generated video promoting a non-existent cable car resort.
The incident was shared by a netizen working in the hotel and tourism industry, who took to social media to recount her encounter with the couple at a hotel in Kuak Hulu, a quiet kampung in Gerik, Perak.
‘What cable car?’
According to the post, the couple had checked into her hotel and asked for directions to the local cable car attraction.
At first, the hotel staff thought it was a joke, responding casually that they hadn’t had time to visit it due to work.
But the conversation quickly turned serious when the couple explained that they had travelled all the way from Kuala Lumpur, believing the scenic cable car destination shown in a Facebook video was real.
Shocked, the hotel staff asked whether they were certain such an attraction existed. The couple insisted they had seen a video of a reporter describing the place, interviewing tourists and showcasing beautiful views — but what they didn’t realise was that the entire video was generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
The hotel staff, who was a local, gently tried to break the bad news to the couple.
I told them I was born and raised here. If there were really a cable car attraction, it would be packed with tourists,” she said.
Couple looks to sue ‘reporter’
Upon hearing the news, the elderly couple reportedly looked at each other in shock, with the husband asking his wife, “What should we do now?”
“They seemed unsure of what to do next, and too embarrassed to even call their children to explain the situation. The moment was heartbreaking to witness,” wrote the staff in the post.
They then asked the staff to comment under the AI video to clarify the truth, but since the couple saw it on Facebook and she had only seen it on TikTok, there was no direct way to corroborate what they had seen.
The elderly woman was visibly upset and even said she wanted to sue the ‘reporter’ in the video — until the staff gently told her that even the reporter wasn’t real, leaving her at a loss for words.
