Pretty Little Liars star Shay Mitchell was accused of being a liar in real life because of vacation photos posted to her social media after a website called her out for apparently faking photos during a trip to Asia this past week.
Mitchell said this photo was taken this year in Hong Kong, but it looks similar to an image photographer Jan Vranovsky shared to his website in 2014 that he took photo in Japan.
Videos by PopCulture.com
Stylecaster compared images of the 30-year-old actress’ trip to Hong Kong to other photos. For example, Mitchell posted a photo of a residential complex in Hong Kong’s Quarry Bay. But the site did a reverse-image search and found it looked just like a photo on camera brand Canon’s travel blog.
The only difference between the images was the angle and how Mitchell cropped the image. She also added a filter. Aside from that, both photos have the exact same cloud formations in the sky and even the same laundry hanging from the windows.
Another photo shows a pastel-colored building in Hong Kong. However, Stylecaster found that it looks just like a 2014 image photographer Jan Vranovsky took in Japan.
Before taking a trip to Hong Kong, Mitchell was in Shanghai, posting a photo of Jing’an Temple, a Buddhist shrine that is almost 800 years old. According to the website, it looks just like a photo posted by the account @shanghainowandthen in 2016, except Mitchell used a different filter.
Mitchell also posted a photo of a curved red door with the caption “SHANGHAI.” But the image looks awful similar to one posted on Pullman Hotels’ Shanghai tourism page and the Isango! bookings site.
Mitchell clapped back at the allegations of fakery on Friday, posting a gorgeous image of herself in Shanghai. “View so nice it almost looks… fake,” she wrote.
She also posted a photo of the Yu Garden in Shanghai, with the photo credit “taken by me.”
The actress, who played Emily Fields on Pretty Little Liars, has gained a big following on Instagram because of her travel photography. While some of these images appear to be fake, she has posted several Instagram Story videos and other photos to prove she is really where she claims to be. She also hosts her own YouTube series called Shaycation!. She now has 19.1 million followers and 3.2 million YouTube subscribers.
In a recent interview with Women’s Health, Mitchell said she also takes along a few items she can easily carry on to planes to stay in shape.
“I like staying fit and active whenever I’m on the go,” she said. “Going to the gym, for me, is very therapeutic. I will always make time for myself to do that.”
Photo credit: Instagram/ Shay Mitchell
