Posts falsely claim Sri Lankan motorists 'can access vehicle registration details via SMS'

The claim was shared in this post published on October 4, 2022, alongside a copy of a vehicle revenue licence -- a form of Sri Lankan vehicle registration document -- and an SMS code.

The section regarding the SMS code instructs people to use the following format: "DMTRLSVehicle number and send to 1919".

The post's Sinhala-language caption translates to English as: "If the police stop you on the road and ask for your vehicle revenue licence, you can now prove the validity of your revenue licence using this method.

"Save this code and keep it with you. It will definitely be useful for you."

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Screenshot of the Facebook post captured on October 10, 2022

1919 is the Government Information Center (GIC) hotline, which gives access to information related to Sri Lanka's public institutions and agencies and their processes.

An identical claim has been shared multiple times on Facebook since at least 2018, as seen here, here and here.

The claim, however, is false. The "code" does not exist and Sri Lankan police say that any person failing to display a valid vehicle revenue licence document on their vehicle can be prosecuted.

'No such service'

AFP entered the "code" as instructed in the false posts to check its validity, but subsequently received an error message, as shown below:

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The hotline "code" does not function and instead issues an error message.

AFP contacted the GIC via telephone on October 11 to further verify the claim made in the posts. In response, a government agent said the GIC has not introduced such a code.

"There is no such service being provided via SMS by the GIC at present," the agent said.

In response to the posts, Nihal Thalduwa, spokesman for Sri Lanka's police force, said the claim was "false".

"No such decision has been made where motorists are permitted to substitute the mandatory rule of carrying a physical copy of the revenue licence with information generated via SMS," said Thalduwa. "No such service exists and the police will not accept such information."

He noted that displaying a physical copy of the revenue licence on vehicles is mandatory under Sri Lankan law.

"Any individual failing to produce the revenue licence when requested by an authority shall face charges with a penalty that involves a fine as well as imprisonment," he said.