{"id":20120,"date":"2018-09-27T22:44:56","date_gmt":"2018-09-27T17:14:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/?p=20120"},"modified":"2018-09-27T22:44:56","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T17:14:56","slug":"the-shadowy-world-of-flynn-remedios-indiascoops-indiascribes-bollywood-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.altnews.in\/english-clone-2026\/the-shadowy-world-of-flynn-remedios-indiascoops-indiascribes-bollywood-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"The shadowy world of Flynn Remedios – IndiaScoops, IndiaScribes, Bollywood and more"},"content":{"rendered":"

IndiaScoops<\/em><\/a> is a website that recently came under the scanner after it published a report<\/a> which claimed that 35 lakh rupees had been spent by the PMO for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s yoga video and photoshoot on International Yoga Day on June 21. An RTI report had subsequently confirmed that this claim is false. This false report was shared by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor among others critical of PM Modi.<\/p>\n

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20 crore rupees in ads for #YogaDay<\/a>, 35 lambs for @PMOIndia<\/a>‘s fitness video! Disgraceful. This government is all about smoke & mirrors. Hype is their substitute for hope — the hopes they have destroyed.https:\/\/t.co\/vmYZINkRD2<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) July 2, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This report was refuted by the Government<\/a> which emphatically stated that it is untrue. On September 24, another article by IndiaScoops<\/em> was shared by Congress social media head Divya Spandana who tweeted a link according to which ‘two top technical heads at Dassault Aviation’ had spoken to IndiaScoops<\/em><\/a> and claimed that the that “the entire technical staff team at Dassault Aviation were unhappy with the move to drop the Indian PSU\u00a0Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd(HAL) and go ahead with\u00a0Reliance Defence Ltd.”<\/em><\/p>\n

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Rafale Deal: Technical HODs at Dassault Aviation claim Reliance Defence was never the first choice, decision to drop HAL was taken by CEO Eric Trappier at the last minute! #ChorPMChupHai<\/a> Read\ud83d\udc49\ud83c\udffdhttps:\/\/t.co\/IbK9SOQLcd<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Divya Spandana\/Ramya (@divyaspandana) September 24, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This article by IndiaScoops<\/em> served as ammunition for the opposition. Many verified handles on Twitter had shared the link to this article in the midst of the Rafale controversy.<\/p>\n

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Since IndiaScoops<\/em> is a website that has been caught spreading fake news earlier, Alt News decided to investigate the origin of the website and the entity behind its operation. What we found was a complex maze of dubious websites and user accounts with shadowy operations.<\/p>\n

Alt News investigates<\/strong><\/h3>\n

On Twitter, using a date filter, we found<\/a> that the first tweets to the IndiaScoops<\/em> website were from the\u00a0Twitter account @IndiaScribesTV<\/em><\/a>. These dated back to the first week of May this year. We checked this Twitter account and found that it is the account of a website named IndiaScribes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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On opening the website, we found that the two websites, IndiaScoops<\/em> and IndiaScribes<\/em> were near-identical in their format and user interface, suggesting that the two websites are run by the same entity.<\/p>\n

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The IndiaScribes<\/em> website mentions one Flynn Remedios as the editor and publisher. The website is not fully functional. Clicking on the ‘About Us’ section results in a ‘404-file not found’ error.<\/p>\n

Alt News found that the Facebook page of IndiaScoops started off as a fan page of model and actor Arshi Khan. It was later renamed multiple times. This has been earlier revealed by OpIndia.com<\/a>. At the time of writing, the page had been deleted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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We also looked at all those who were sharing links to IndiaScoops<\/em> articles on various social media platforms, and came across a group on Facebook called Mumbaiwalla<\/em><\/a>. We found that here too, a majority of the posts were by a Facebook user, Flynn Remedios. <\/p>\n

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We also came across a domain name themumbaiwalla.com<\/em> on DomainBigData<\/em><\/a> and found that it is registered in the name of Flynn Remedios. Additionally, the phone number mentioned on the Mumbaiwalla<\/em> Facebook page too is registered in the name of Flynn Remedios according to Truecaller. <\/p>\n

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Furthermore, we also found that the same phone number has been shared by another Twitter account called IndyaNewz.<\/p>\n

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Charity Match for Nepal Relief Fund. Contact: +919833572354. Inviting all Cricket & Football teams and clubs in… http:\/\/t.co\/gZn6u2MKTa<\/a><\/p>\n

— Indya Newz (@IndyaNewz) April 28, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n