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Here’s an out-of-this-world story you never knew you needed to read.
A Malaysian man was praised last week after announcing on Twitter that he had received a grant from the US space agency NASA through Singapore’s oldest university by creating an impressive system for future travelers to Mars.
Days later, after netizens questioned his announcement, 20-year-old Azhar Ali clarified that the news had been untrue and that he was the “victim of a scam” involving a purported NASA offer letter listing the National University of Singapore as a partner. .
A representative from the university said today Cocos Singapore He did not send such a letter to Azhar, noting that while he offers a study grant known as NASA, it means “NUS Awards for Study Abroad”, not “National Aeronautics and Space Administration”.
“We would like to clarify that the University did not send a letter with an offer of admission to Mr. Muhammad Azhar Bin Muhammed Ali. Furthermore, the University does not offer a course on “Mathematics / Applied Mathematics for Cosmology,” said a statement sent today.
Their NUS Awards for Study Abroad Scholarships (NASA) They support university students who want to study abroad and are definitely “not offered in association with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,” the university added.
The university’s response comes days after Azhar Ali tweeted his good news on Thursday.
“Is NASA giving me a scholarship?” Ya Allah, I NEVER thought about this when I joined the Artemis Challenge. Alhamdulillah, “he wrote.
The tweet included screenshots from the offer’s email, a photo of himself as “Scientific Citizen” looking like it was taken from a NASA website, and an infographic indicating he earned a “Super Distinction” score from ” 96.77% Spacesuit Interface Efficiency Level. “
It seems like the kind of thing one could do with an online infographic maker and use other suspicious words.
A screenshot of the offer email shows that it was sent by a René Netherlands. A NASA.gov site publicly lists the Netherlands as human resources contact point for the Armstrong Flight Research Center in California. She did not immediately respond to an email from Cocos Singapore.
“In considering it, we at NASA STEM Engagement want you to join our team of Young Scientists at Artemis,” the statement read. “Along with the application, NASA and the National University of Singapore, NUS, prominently offer you the NASA Undergraduate Scholarship subject to requirements.”
Is NASA giving me a scholarship? Ya Allah, I NEVER thought about this when I joined the Artemis Challenge. Alhamdulillah. The challenge was to design a spacesuit that would fit the Artemis 2024 mission to Mars, and thanks to @rafiqhilmi_ Question, I did it. Syukur pic.twitter.com/w6aCahmZdN
– Saturn 🪐 (@theotherazharal) April 30, 2020
Azhar’s announcement was widely praised, including a greeting from none other than Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, according to reports. But with the attention came the scrutiny, and Azhar was quickly summoned for claims that were not sustained.
Although NASA organizes student projects through its Artemis Student Challenge program, they are only open to American universities. Although he recently completed a project for students to design a mixed AR / VR system for future astronauts heading to Mars.
Other than that, the odd wording and apparent improbability of it all, some pointed out that Azhar was not list among the “citizen scientists” at the NASA site.
The dream seemed to burn on Sunday when Azhar came out Twitter to announce that he had been “the victim of a scam”, something he said he suspected after clicking a link in the email that took him to a “portal” where he could select “a photo for my call acknowledgment”.
He went on to say that he has since been receiving emails from “NUS” through addresses that do not come from the university’s domain address.
He insisted that he participated in the program.
“Around March 20, I participated in the NASA Costume Design Competition ranked under NASA for grades 9-12. I did my part, “said part of Azhar’s Sunday Twitter thread.
There is no secondary version of the suit challenge, which requires some strong coding and electronic engineering skillsIt can be easily found online.
Still, Azhar was circumspect with the lesson his experience taught everyone, but firm in his refusal to show contrition.
“What we, including myself, can learn from this is that we must always verify authenticity before engaging or presenting any type of news to the public. I will not apologize for being a victim of a scam, “he added.
He did not answer questions about how he was able to participate in the challenge and, at the time of publication, did not respond to a message-based query.
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