Manipulated Scotiabank poster shared alongside digital currency claims

This article is more than one year old.
Published on April 5, 2023 at 22:24
3 min read
By Gwen Roley, AFP Canada

Social media users are sharing a photo of a flyer that appears to say Scotiabank locations temporarily closed in March 2023 to implement "digital banking accounts," claiming this is part of a plan to eliminate cash. But the company told AFP the image is not authentic and that no branches were closed -- and the Bank of Canada said it has no plans to end the use of bank notes.

"The Wetaskawin, AB @scotiabank is closed this week because they are in the process of upgrading all banking accounts to DBA (digital banking accounts)," says a March 29, 2023 tweet. "Central bank digital currency is an egregious loss of privacy & freedom. Fight back, use cash."

The post includes a picture of a poster with the logo of Scotiabank, the third largest in Canada. The flyer indicates the Alberta location was closed until April 1.

Screenshot of a tweet taken April 3, 2023

The photo spread across Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Many of the posts appeared to conflate "digital banking accounts" with a central bank digital currency, a financial system that has previously been the subject of misinformation.

But the picture shared online is altered.

A reverse image search reveals the original photo shows a Scotiabank notice in Quesnel, British Columbia about a spring 2021 closure due to Covid-19.

Screenshot of a Facebook post taken April 5, 2023

Screenshot of the My Cariboo Now website taken April 5, 2023

"I can confirm this is not an authentic Scotiabank poster and the claims in it are false," said Katie Raskina, manager of media relations for the Bank of Nova Scotia, in a March 30, 2023 email.

Same altered photo, different cities

One of the earliest iterations of the photo AFP found online was published March 28 on Facebook.

"To my Frenz in Nova Scotia, I hope you can see the signs of double coming to you on... wait for it... April Fools Day! IT'S BIT A JOKE!" the post's caption says.

Over the following days, however, the image was reshared in posts that indicated the notice was real. Some claimed the flyer described closures in different towns, despite using the same edited image.

Other accounts shared the fabricated images with claims that the changes were part of a scheme to secretly implement a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in Canada.

The Bank of Canada says on its website that it is researching the deployment of a CBDC. But spokesman Paul Badertscher told AFP in an April 4 email that no decision had been made.

"A CBDC would be a digital version of the bank notes people have in their wallets, and the Bank of Canada would not place any restrictions on how a CBDC could be used," Badertscher said. "The Bank of Canada will continue to provide Canadians with bank notes for as long as Canadians want to use them."

Ultimately, the Canadian Parliament would decide whether to create a CBDC.

AFP has debunked other claims about digital currency plans here.

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