Since the new government was formed last month, social media posts advertising various forms of government cash aid have been circulating online.
However, all the posts have been denounced as false by the relevant ministries.
The false advertisements include claims for RM100 aid for food, cash aid under the Bantuan Sara Hidup programme and permission to withdraw more funds out of the Employee Provident Fund.
One posting featured a photo of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announcing cash aid of up to RM1,000 for families with school-going children.
These have all been denounced as false by the Finance Ministry and the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry.
According to fact-checking unit MyCheck, there has been a proliferation of fake advertisements on purported government cash aid in the past weeks.
Some of them are used as click-bait, to get social media users to inadvertently join Telegram groups or other forms of marketing newsletters, MyCheck reported.
MyCheck found one repeat offender to be a website called rezekiterkini.com, which uses its social media platforms to advertise false information to gain clicks.
Rezekiterkini claims that it is a source of information for government welfare programmes.
It used Anwar's photo to advertise various forms of government assistance, including for the elderly and disabled, plus help for families - none of which has been announced by the new government.
One viral post by rezekiterkini on TikTok was a video claiming the Anwar administration is offering families with school-going children RM300 a month.
The video had been viewed more than 700,000 times on TikTok.
MyCheck found the link attached to the TikTok video adds users to its Telegram group, where it pushed out notifications for other articles.
In fact, MyCheck found, the RM300 aid for families with schoolchildren is an existing programme offered by the Selangor state government to families in the B40 income group.
Selangor's Bantuan Kehidupan Sejahtera Selangor (Bingkas), was launched in July and offered qualifying families RM300 a month for a year.
Other social media accounts which have repeatedly shared false information on government aid in the past weeks include Facebook accounts “Semakan & Permohonan Online” and “Permohonan Online”.
MyCheck and Malaysiakini are part of the Malaysian fact-checking alliance JomCheck.
Through JomCheck, Malaysians are able to submit requests to fact-check a claim by sending a WhatsApp message to the tipline at 017-477 6659 (WhatsApp text only, no calls) or via this link. - Mkini
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