A 20-year-old Malaysian student, Azhar Ali, has caused a ruckus online when he claimed that NASA offered him a scholarship after winning a space suit design challenge.

Received "scholarship" from NASA

In an Apr. 30 tweet, Azhar explained that he had joined the "Artemis Challenge", which required participants to design a space suit for NASA's Artemis 2024 mission to Mars.

https://twitter.com/theotherazharal/status/1255675195362140160

Here's a screenshot of his tweet in case you can't see it:

His tweet was accompanied by a screen shot of an email stating that NASA and the National University of Singapore (NUS) had offered him a "NASA Degree Scholarship".

Azhar posted a graphic along with the email screen shot that claimed that he had obtained the top 1 per cent score amongst over three million entries globally.

Apparently, he had achieved a "super distinction score" of 96.77 per cent for the "Spacesuit Interface Efficiency Level".

Azhar also posted a screenshot of his profile picture on NASA's official website, where he was designated as a "citizen scientist".

Tweet went viral in Malaysia

Azhar's tweet went viral, with over 25,000 retweets and 38,000 likes as of the time of writing.

The news had also reached Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who expressed his pride in a tweet.

Tahniah Saudara Azhar. Kejayaan yang amat membanggakan. Semoga terus maju jaya. https://t.co/DDVUu3aJsO

— Muhyiddin Yassin (@MuhyiddinYassin) May 1, 2020

Here's a translation of Muhyiddin's tweet:

"Congrats, Azhar. Indeed, a success to be proud of. May you continue to strive."

Malaysia's Minister of Higher Education, Noraini Ahmad, also sent a congratulatory message to Azhar.

Congratulations and all the best Azhar! https://t.co/usCLK1tV5V

— Dr Noraini Ahmad (@DrNorainiAhmad) May 2, 2020

On top of that, TV3, a Malaysian free-to-air television channel, dedicated a short news segment for Azhar's alleged success story.

Tahukah Anda Satu Malaysia dia kencing 😆

The whole cabinet member kena kencing sampai masuk TV pic.twitter.com/UWhUYq20yU

— Khairi Zulfadhli (@khairizulfadhli) May 3, 2020

Online sleuths suspicious

As Azhar garnered the national recognition and attention, however, he had unknowingly triggered a huge online debate.

A number of Twitter users found his situation dubious and they accused him of faking the scholarship offer.

One user noted that Azhar's "citizen scientist" profile on NASA's website seemed different compared to the others.

So I did a quick search on @theotherazharal pic.twitter.com/mbqFDgbZa5

— Ashraff A (@TheAshraffA) May 2, 2020

Another netizen also screen recorded himself searching for Azhar's name on NASA's official website. The search did not produce any results.

A Twitter thread claiming that the Artemis Challenge graphic was amateurishly designed, also made its rounds online.

The thread stated that NASA's logo on the graphic was "clearly cropped" from its official website.

First of all, cuba tengok Poster bawah ni, pergi bucu kanan atas. tengok logo tu.

Simple search tunjuk logo tu crop dari page NASA kat bawah ni 👇 https://t.co/f0zIDqc7vH

Kalau official bukan sepatutnya kemas macam gambar no 4 ke? ha itu member aku crop sendiri pic.twitter.com/0RH5zTwnkL

— Khairi Zulfadhli (@khairizulfadhli) May 2, 2020

A few Twitter users also proved how simple it is for anyone to edit themselves onto a "NASA website".

Thank you NASA for this opportunity. pic.twitter.com/883999l91C

— Anieq (@anieqsaidi) May 3, 2020

https://twitter.com/afifisyahmi_/status/1256903139782868993

NASA IS GIVING ME A SCHOLARSHIP !? I NEVER thought of of this when I joined the Artemis Challenge. The challenge was to design a spacesuit that would adjust to the Artemis 2024 mission to Mars, and thanks to @afiqrby’s question, I made it. pic.twitter.com/KuAJuKxnfV

— paan_パアン_suku2 (@shinbigamadanai) May 3, 2020

Claimed he was scammed

As more questions surfaced, Azhar had apparently made his Twitter account private, according to New Straits Times.

However, he made his account public again on May 3 to provide an explanation.

In a long Twitter thread, Azhar reiterated that he had joined the NASA suit designing competition "around March 20".

He then claimed that he received the email from NASA two weeks later.

However, he subsequently received "ambiguous" emails from NUS, and eventually admitted that he was scammed:

"What we, myself included, can learn from this is that we should always check for authenticity before engaging or posing any form of news to the public. I’m not going to apologise upon being a victim of a scam.

I feel very sad for many unknown people like me who are brought to this kind scam, potentially lose their money and dignity. To all of you, please do not be afraid and keep silent.

This can lead to depression and potential suicide as we can see teen suicide are rising due to depression. I would like to thank my parents who give me courage and guided me....I am an astrophile, I love the universe and all it has to offer. Thank you my fellow friends for supporting me. Hope the very best is in for all of you. Thank you."

Here's Azhar's full Twitter thread:

https://twitter.com/theotherazharal/status/1256772299534921729

https://twitter.com/theotherazharal/status/1256772303217549313

https://twitter.com/theotherazharal/status/1256772306837233664

https://twitter.com/theotherazharal/status/1256772310528221186

https://twitter.com/theotherazharal/status/1256772314470866944

https://twitter.com/theotherazharal/status/1256772318581288960

Mixed reactions

Azhar's explanation was satisfactory to some Malaysians.

Malaysia's Science, Technology and Innovation Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, found it to be a vital teachable moment for his nation.

Yes, this is indeed a lesson for all of us (myself included) to fact check before sharing online. The compliments you received from many came from a good place of wanting to see a young Malaysian succeed. Don’t give up. Whatever people are saying, keep reaching for the stars.

— Khairy Jamaluddin 🇲🇾🌺 (@Khairykj) May 3, 2020

On the other hand, a number of netizens were still not convinced and accused Azhar of lying yet again.

https://twitter.com/alexander_fong/status/1256789406775513089

https://twitter.com/alexander_fong/status/1256789697977696256

NUS debunks claims made

In response to a Mothership query, an NUS spokesperson said that the university did not send a letter with an offer of admission to Azhar.

Here is NUS' full statement:

"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. In addition, the University does not offer a course on “Mathematics/Applied Mathematics for Cosmology”.

The NUS Awards for Study Abroad (NASA) Scholarships support study abroad opportunities for NUS undergraduates. It is not offered in partnership with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration."

Mothership has also reached out to Azhar for a comment.

Top image collage from @theotherazharal/Twitter.