The Telegraph’s sob story about a family having to cut down on their five holidays to pay school fees turned out to be fake – must do better
An article in (of course) the Telegraph, about ‘investment banker Al Moy’ and his financial struggle after Labour introduced VAT on school fees, found people’s sympathy reserves bone dry.
The now-deleted piece detailed how the father of three has had to cut down on his five yearly holidays in order to keep paying the fees for his two elder children, despite a combined income with his banker wife, Alexandra, of £345,000.
Rather than a few travelling holidays in the US, from a base in the Hamptons, freelance journalist Georgina Fuller apparently claimed that the Moy family are having to make do with just one long-haul trip, plus a few vacations in Europe. Oh, the humanity!
Eyebrows were raised almost as high as those pesky, holiday-stealing school fees.
Beyond actual parody. pic.twitter.com/7sElkd0RbU
— Otto English (@Otto_English) May 25, 2025
‘We earn £345k, but soaring private school fees mean we can’t afford to go on five holidays’
This is a GENUINE article published just now in The Telegraph. https://t.co/2sZGd4CeeK
— Mike Galsworthy (@mikegalsworthy) May 25, 2025
I'd never have put VAT on private school fees if I'd known it would lead to some families struggling to afford five holidays a year. pic.twitter.com/kqRtNSHc8C
— Parody Keir Starmer (@Parody_PM) May 25, 2025
If you were thinking that the ‘five holidays’ story was a bit much, even for the Telegraph, you’d be spot on. It looks as though they either faked it, were pranked, or let AI have a go at writing a Telegraph-style story.
Journalist Ian Fraser raised the alarm on Bluesky.
Something fishy about this sob story (1) The photos are stock shots taken in 2012 and 2014, available from Shutterstock and Alamy—links below. (2) There’s no trace of bankers Al and Alexandra Moy anywhere other than the Telegraph
www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/…
www.alamy.com/stock-photo-…
— Ian Fraser (@ianfraser.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 1:40 PM
He brought the receipts.
Here’s the actual stock-shot the Torygraph used to illustrate its VAT on school fees sob story.
Taken in around 2014, it’s titled “Asian family enjoying summer walk” and was contributed by Monkey Business.
— Ian Fraser (@ianfraser.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 2:41 PM
This is the stock shot the Telegraph used to illustrate Ali Moy (supposedly 13) and Harry Moy (supposedly 9)
Sourced from Alamy, it was taken in April 2012, so the children in it would be in their late teens now.
Also worth pointing out these are not the same children who appear in the main image
— Ian Fraser (@ianfraser.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Well, that’s awkward. Bluesky users weighed in.
1.
Wait, so this was actually properly made up? I feel like this should be a big thing.
— James Alistair Henry (@jamesbluecat.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 8:39 PM
2.
No way does a family complaining about having to downgrade from Waitrose and not being able to go on 5 holidays a year call their child Barry
— gsrs90.bsky.social (@gsrs90.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 4:55 PM
3.
Good work.
Surely falsification on this scale is a serious matter?
(Setting aside, if one can, the ludicrous nature of the story).
— Pervis Purves (@darksatanicmills.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 1:51 PM
4.
The family are also named Al, Alexandra, Ali, Harry and Barry lmao
— Laura Purkess (@laurapurkess.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 3:36 PM
5.
Gosh, yes. Well sleuthed! They are a very busy family, given all their investment banking commitments. Wodner where Georgina Fuller found them. Not like the Telegraph to employ another dodgy journalist (*cough* Boris Johnson).
— Bertha Mason (@thornfieldhall.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 3:54 PM
6.
Also – he’s 38, went to school in Singapore but they spent 20 years in the US before moving to the UK. That doesn’t add up.
— Mike Knell (@blat.at) May 25, 2025 at 2:14 PM
7.
very well done to everyone who exposed this story as fake and some who've reported the Telegraph to IPSO. Wonder what went on behind the scenes that persuaded the editor this was a good idea
— Dr Julie Doughty (@juliedoughty.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 11:04 AM
8.
Telegraph pioneering the algorithmically driven synthetic "rage bait" infotainment business.
— Ally Tibbitt (@allytibbitt.me) May 26, 2025 at 11:03 AM
9.
Incredible scenes. Story now seems to have been vanished.
Didn't someone just pay a fortune for the Telegraph too?
A fool and his money and all that.
— Emma Burnell (@emmaburnell.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 6:06 PM
10.
Putting the scandal of this being faked and that someone should be sacked to one side, it's instructive of how warped the Telegraph's view of the world is. A £225k salary is 'comfortable'. Cutting your holiday budget from £40k to £20k is meant to elicit sympathy.
— Billy Bell (@billybell99.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 10:39 AM
11.
The Torygraph is now reduced to just flat-out making stuff up. Though some would say they've been doing that for years.
— Dr_Aust_PhD (@draustphd.bsky.social) May 26, 2025 at 12:11 AM
12.
Would like to get to the bottom of this. I can’t tell if it’s a dare gone too far, a complete piss take, an experiment with AI, or even a sincere attempt at a story they thought their core readership would relate to.
— Graeme Swanson (@swansonian.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 7:32 PM
13.
Lolz. The Telegraph getting a hiding today.
— Neurodivergentleman (@neurodivergentlman.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 7:13 PM
14.
It reads like someone on the Telegraph website found an Onion article and thought it was real.
— Toby Fenn (@thelhc.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 7:21 PM
New game just dropped.
So now we’ve found a great new weekend game. Find the fake Telegraph story. On the basis of this first pilot it shouldn’t take long.
— Ms Lesley Smith (@mslesleysmith.bsky.social) May 25, 2025 at 10:23 PM
READ MORE
H/T Ian Fraser Image Freepik