Beware of Falun Gong Impersonators — Especially Strange or Violent Claims

NEW YORK — Recent months have seen a rise in malicious impersonations of Falun Gong practitioners on social media and in email messages sent to public venues, elected officials, and others. These messages are believed to have been sent by pro-Beijing individuals or Chinese Communist Party (CCP) proxies as part of a broader campaign to malign Falun Gong and Shen Yun Performing Arts, a classical Chinese dance company founded by Falun Gong practitioners.

The Falun Dafa Information Center (FDIC) is urging skepticism and caution among journalists, law enforcement, public venues, elected officials, and social media users should they encounter strange, violent, or suspicious messages claiming to be from Falun Gong practitioners or those affiliated with Shen Yun. The FDIC is especially concerned that the regime could escalate the use of this tactic into real-world violence, especially surrounding the anniversary of such an incident in China that was used to turn public opinion against Falun Gong.

“January 23 marks 24 years since the Chinese regime engaged in one of the most egregious and harmful instances of using fake Falun Gong impersonators to deceive the public and demonize the practice: A staged self-immolation in Tiananmen Square,” says Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center.

“Investigative reports, analysis of video footage, and Falun Gong’s own teachings against suicide have proven that the incident was choreographed and those involved were not genuine Falun Gong practitioners. Yet, this became a cornerstone of the CCP’s demonizing and deceptive anti-Falun Gong propaganda, used to incite hatred and violence against innocent people.” — Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center

“At a time when top Chinese officials have instructed security forces and CCP intelligence agencies to escalate attacks on Falun Gong internationally—including through disinformation and activating agents among the Falun Gong community—and amid an uptick in actual cases of harmful impersonation, we are concerned the regime or its proxies may be plotting a more serious incident, even a violent one, using fake Falun Gong practitioners,” says Browde. “They would use this to accelerate current tactics to discredit the practice and turn public opinion in the United States and globally against Falun Gong.”

If you believe you have received a false message from a Falun Gong practitioner or someone claiming to be a former Shen Yun performer, please alert us at .

Rise of harmful impersonations

Recent months have seen a troubling surge in anonymous threats and harmful impersonations aimed at discrediting Falun Gong-related organizations, including the FDIC and Shen Yun Performing Arts. These incidents, often designed to sow confusion and provoke hostility towards Falun Gong more broadly, have taken several forms, including death threats and fake practitioners making damaging false claims.

Notable examples include:

  • July 2024: Fake accounts on X (formerly Twitter) impersonated senior Shen Yun staff, posting inflammatory and outrageous statements. Although the accounts were removed after complaints, similar tactics have resurfaced in other settings.

  • August 2024: Multiple departments of the Central Park Zoo in New York City received threatening messages from individuals falsely claiming to be Falun Gong practitioners. The messages included bomb threats and one listed the email of FDIC Executive Director Levi Browde as the sender. Skeptical of the threat’s authenticity, the zoo contacted Mr. Browde, who confirmed the attempt was an impersonation.

  • September 2024: An email impersonating a Shen Yun employee was sent to the White House. Shen Yun’s training campus received an automatic reply email from the White House, indicating that a Shen Yun-affiliated email address had been used in a contact form to make it appear as though Shen Yun had sent what was likely a threat of violence or some other content making Shen Yun seem bizarre.

  • December 2024: A Canadian parliamentarian publicly supportive of Shen Yun received an email allegedly from a former Shen Yun performer. The email contained links to recent inaccurate New York Times reporting and included unverified claims of overwork and trauma within the company. When the parliamentarian consulted a local Falun Gong practitioner, they were able to confirm with Shen Yun that no individual by the sender’s name had ever performed with the company or studied at its affiliated Fei Tian Academy or College.

  • December 2024-January 2025: On the same day, a Swedish parliamentarian who had also publicly praised Shen Yun received a nearly identical email smearing the company as the Canadian parliamentarian. This time, the email sender used a different name and email address. Again, Shen Yun confirmed there was no current or former performer by that name. The overlapping timing and language in the emails, sent to both lawmakers who had publicly spoken positively about Shen Yun, indicates coordination and that there may be additional parliamentarians who have received or will receive similar messages. In early January 2025, the same Swedish parliamentarian received another fake email urging him to withdraw support for Shen Yun. The email referenced the December 6 message and the lack of response, but used a different email address and signed with a different name, increasing the suspicious nature of the communication.

In parallel to these impersonations, there has also been a rise in other anonymous messages—primarily death threats like mass shooting and bomb threats—targeting Shen Yun’s training center, theaters where Shen Yun is performing, and the FDIC. The FDIC has documented at least 20 such threats over the past year. These are all part of a broader campaign by the CCP whose stated aim is to “eliminate” Falun Gong and Shen Yun globally, using disinformation and activated overseas agents of its security forces to turn public opinion and government authorities against the group.

Should the regime’s impersonation tactics escalate, the FDIC is concerned that fake messages could be used to frame Falun Gong practitioners for crimes or bomb threats. Already, some of the above threats targeting Falun Gong practitioners or Shen Yun have been sent from email addresses impersonating other practitioners or Chinese dissidents. Moreover, there have been several cases in recent years of CCP critics unrelated to Falun Gong facing accusations and even charges of making violent threats after being impersonated, at times triggering law enforcement action.

In 2022, Dutch journalist Marije Vlaskamp, known for her reporting on China, became a victim of CCP intimidation tactics in the Netherlands. According to a recent report by Dutch researchers, “Fake hotel bookings and bomb threats were made in her name, prompting the Chinese embassy to inform the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and report her to the police. This escalation led to Vlaskamp becoming a suspect herself.” Although she was never charged with a crime, Vlaskamp and her employer’s attempts to work with police and judicial authorities to trace the perpetrators of the false accusations were unsuccessful.

In 2022, the Chinese embassy in the Netherlands reported Dutch journalist Marije Vlaskamp to the police for bomb threats made under her name. It’s suspected she was framed by Chinese proxies for her exposure of human rights issues.

More recently, two similar incidents involving Australian critics of the CCP occurred. Entrepreneur and media commentator Andrew Phelan was falsely accused of sending vile threats to a Chinese journalist. In 2023, Phelan was arrested by armed police at his Melbourne home after an email containing graphic threats was sent to a journalist using a fake account impersonating him. Authorities later confirmed the email was fraudulent, and Phelan strongly suspects the involvement of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS). Another Australian activist, Drew Pavlou, was also falsely implicated in a bomb threat allegedly sent in his name. He faced potential legal consequences in England and endured months of death threats and harassment, while his family was also targeted.

These examples underscore the deliberate use of this underhanded tactic by those wishing to harm critics of the CCP’s rights abuses. They highlight the potential risks to the Falun Gong community if recipients of fake messages fail to verify their authenticity or do not proceed with caution.

False self-immolation used by state media

On January 23, 2001, five individuals allegedly set themselves on fire in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. The regime quickly claimed they were Falun Gong practitioners and mobilized their propaganda apparatus to spread that message. State-run media were flooded with grisly photos and false claims that the self-immolators were Falun Gong practitioners. Inside China, this incident became a pivotal moment in the CCP’s campaign to demonize Falun Gong and shift public opinion, further justifying violence against practitioners.

Waiting for a cue: In a poorly acted scene, a policeman stands waiting beside a supposed self-immolating Falun Gong practitioner. This is just one of dozens of suspicious points in this horrific scam.

Yet the entire propaganda campaign was based on false pretenses, as those five individuals were not Falun Gong practitioners. The Washington Post soon after conducted an investigation, finding that at least two of the self-immolators had never been seen practicing Falun Gong. An award-winning documentary False Fire included a detailed breakdown of video footage, raising suspicions that the entire incident was staged. Moreover, its analysis showed that the supposedly “die hard” Falun Gong practitioners were performing the meditation gestures entirely incorrectly.

Despite these revelations, the narrative pushed by the CCP was relentlessly reinforced in state-run media, igniting widespread hostility toward Falun Gong. Public opinion shifted from sympathy to outright animosity, and violence against Falun Gong practitioners surged. The CCP used the incident as a justification for escalating the persecution, turning the tide of public perception against the once-respected practice.

This incident is still relevant today. In light of recent biased and inaccurate coverage of Falun Gong in Western media, there is a growing risk that any incident supposedly involving Falun Gong outside China could trigger a barrage of news reports uncritically repeating questionable claims without thorough investigation or considering the possibility of CCP manipulation.

“Just as the Tiananmen Square self-immolation incident was manipulated to discredit Falun Gong inside China, similar tactics could be deployed today outside China — whether through fabricated messages or staged events — leading to biased, unverified reports unfairly demonizing a faith practiced by tens of millions of people.” Levi Browde, executive director of the Falun Dafa Information Center

“Careful investigation and scrutiny are vital when the CCP’s tactics of impersonation are involved,” says Browde. “International media and policymakers must be vigilant to ensure that history does not repeat itself and that the regime does not succeed in manipulating democratic institutions to harm innocent Americans.”

If you believe you have received a false message from a Falun Gong practitioner or someone claiming to be a former Shen Yun performer, please alert us at .

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