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Brazilian War Photographer ‘Eduardo Martins’ Is On The Run After Being Exposed As A Fraud

How he got away with it for so long…

As you could imagine, Max was totally blown away by the lunacy of the situation.
 
When my friend showed me the photos first of all I thought it was a joke, some a***hole (messing) with me.
But actually, my photos were stolen, it’s crazy that some random guy decided to use my image among so many options across internet.
I work very far from war zones, with surfing trips. All my pictures have always been taken in that context.
 
Below you can see Helpworth-Povey appear to be in the cities of Aleppo and Mogadishu in Syria and Africa, respecitivley. ‘Eduardo Martins’ simply just pasted pictures of Max in war zones and called it his work.
 
 
 
 
 
Fake war journo
Image Via
 You have to think that someone must’ve been in contact with this super evasive dude, and that man was veteran photographer and DOC Galeria member Fernando Costa Netto.
 
Netto contacted Martins to inquire about conducting an exhibition of his work. But like everyone else, Netto eventually realized the truth about Eduardo Martins’ fraudulent profile and called him out for it.
 
Apparently when Netto made Martins aware that the world was onto him, he immediately deleted his Instagram account and sent the following final WhatsApp message from a now deactivated number:
 
I’m in Australia. I made the decision to spend a year a van. I’ll cut everything, including the internet.
 
I want to be in peace, we’ll see each other when I get back.
 
A big hug, I’ll delete the zap. Stay with God. A hug.
 
Well Eduardo, if that is your real name, great job buddy.
 
You fooled the media and the general public and took credit for the work of others while simultaneously posing on Instagram as a British surfer who also had an Instagram. Pretty bold move there.
 
We may never know who this random alias of ‘Eduardo Martins’ the surfer/war photojournalist truly is, but let this be a lesson to all that not everything on the internet is what it appears to be.
 
In stark contrast to the lying con-artist Eduardo Martins, let’s commend the heroes who actually do step into warzones for their jobs. Check out footage of Kurdish sniper Haron fighting the Islamic State in Kobani. 
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