Several Albanian-language online media outlets have published an article about an 18-year-old young man, Arion Kurtaj, who had committed cybercrime by hacking videos of the video game "Grand Theft Auto VI", which had not yet been presented to players.
In articles published by these media outlets, it is claimed that the same person has been locked up for life in a psychiatric hospital.
After verification of the facts conducted by hibrid.info, it has been confirmed that the claim made by the Albanian-language online media is not accurate.
Links to the article published in several online media in Albanian:
After research conducted through online search engines, hibrid.info found the article published by the British media "BBC", which explains that Kurtaj is an autistic person, who has been sentenced to an indefinite stay in the hospital. (see here)
Excerpt from the article published on the BBC, translated into Albanian:
An 18-year-old hacker who leaked footage of an upcoming Grand Theft Auto (GTA) game has been sentenced to an indefinite hospital order.
Arion Kurtaj from Oxford, who is autistic, was a key member of the international gang Lapsus$.
Gang attacks on tech giants including Uber, Nvidia and Rockstar Games cost the firms nearly $10 million.
The judge said Kurtaj's skills and desire to commit cybercrime meant he remained a high risk to the public.
He will remain in a life-saving hospital if doctors no longer consider him a risk.
The court heard that Kurtaj had been violent during his stay in custody with dozens of reports of injury or material damage.
Analyze:
Some Albanian-language online media outlets have erroneously reported that 18-year-old Arion Kurtaj has been locked up forever in a psychiatric hospital.
The BBC report explains that Kurtaj has been given an indefinite hospital order until doctors no longer consider him a risk.
Based on the working methodology, hibrid.info rates this article as "Error".
Reasoning:
The "Error" rating is given to media reports in which the media editorial staff made a mistake by publishing incorrect information or broadcasting unverified news from another source, without the clear intention of misinforming the public.