Social Media Detectives Target B-List Australian Actor in Hunt for Thai Bombing Suspect

In the aftermath of Monday’s bloody attack in downtown Bangkok, cyber-vigilantes took to Twitter to try to piece together who was behind the mysterious bombing that left 20 dead and more than 120 injured. Their prime — and seemingly wholly innocent — suspect? An Australian model, actor, and English teacher named Sunny Burns.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, though Thai police released a photo of a man wearing a yellow shirt and backpack who they believe could be responsible. On Wednesday, Thai officials put out a warrant for the arrest of who they’re calling an “unidentified foreign man” believed to have carried out the attack. Thai police added that the suspect may have been involved in an elaborate network of Thais that helped plan the attack, though they offered no details or evidence.

As Burns now knows all too well, the netizens trying to identify a suspect aren’t having much luck, either.

Using the hashtag #bombercluephoto to crowdsource photos taken in the area before and after the explosion, users posting in English, Thai, Japanese, and Korean asked the Twitterverse to offer any information they could about the blurry photo of the suspect and where he might have bought his yellow shirt.

But as time passed and Thai intelligence failed to identify the perpetrator by name, social media users started drawing their own conclusions. The photo released by the government shows a young man with flowing hair and glasses, but does not offer a clear image of his face. That didn’t stop some users from claiming he bore a striking resemblance to Burns, who lives in Bangkok.

On Tuesday, after rumors began to swirl on social media, Burns was questioned by Thai authorities. He used Facebook, both his official account and an account he uses to advertise his English lessons, to recount what happened next.

In one post he claimed that he is a “fashion blogger” who would never wear the outfit the alleged perpetrator was wearing. He then took a selfie at a table with police officers and wrote, “Talking with the police. I forgive everyone who spread those horrible rumours about me.” That picture alone got more than 30,000 likes, and Burns later wrote that he took the photo to protect myself. “[Posting] a Selfie online was the best way to protect myself and to share any evidence incase [sic] something went wrong,” he wrote. 

Burns also posted an update saying police were going to search his house for evidence but that social media was to blame for the entire mix-up.

“Now in a police car and they are going to search my house for bombs,” he wrote. “I really need a protein shake and a big hug. This is all because of social media and some jealous hater spreading gossip.”

He later posted footage of his alibi: photos from what look like security cameras after he returned from a workout and was preparing to teach an English lesson at the same time the bomb went off.

According to his Facebook posts, Thai police have been supportive of his innocence and seem to have cleared him of any involvement in the attack, but he still received death threats and hate mail after his personal information, including his address, was leaked online.

Thai authorities, meanwhile, are back at square one. In a press conference in Bangkok Wednesday, national police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri told reporters the suspect “might have been in a disguise and wearing a fake nose” to look like a foreigner.

The police released a sketch of the man they think carried a backpack to a park bench and left it there to detonate. For the record, that sketch looks nothing like Burns.

Photo credit: Facebook