Posts share misleading claim about 'e-shopping voucher giveaway for Malaysians'

"How to Claim April 2023 RM400 Shopee Credit for Malaysians," reads a Facebook post shared on a page with more than 185,000 followers.

Shopee is a popular e-commerce platform popular in Southeast Asia, including Malaysia.

The post, dated March 31, 2023, included a picture of Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim alongside text that reads: "Shopee Credit RM400 for Malaysians".

The post also included a link to a blog post on how to claim the purported 400 Malaysian ringgit ($90) in shopping credit.

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Screenshot of the misleading post, taken on April 18, 2023

The picture also displays the logo for "Malaysia Madani" (Civil Malaysia) -- Anwar's policy framework (archived links here and here).

Similar posts have circulated on Facebook here, here and here; and on Telegram here and here.

The claim also appeared in other blog articles, such as here, here and here.

However, the claim is misleading.

'False information'

The Malaysian prime minister's department denied the claim in a statement posted on its Facebook page on April 5, 2023 (archived link).

"The news is FAKE," it said. "The public is requested not to spread or share any uncertain or false information."

The Facebook post included the image used in the misleading posts, stamped with the Malay word for "FAKE" in red.

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A screenshot of the Prime Minister's Department statement, taken on April 19, 2023.

Shopee also shared the Facebook post from the prime minister's department the next day, denying it would give 400 ringgit vouchers to all Malaysians (archived link).

"The poster that declares Shopee will give 400 Malaysian ringgit vouchers to Malaysian citizens is fake and incorrect. We urge users to only share information from official sources," the post read.

Although the clickbait headlines of the misleading blog articles suggested there was a Shopee voucher giveaway for all Malaysians, the articles mentioned a special campaign called "Jimat Air 4.0", which translates as "Save Water 4.0".

The campaign was a collaboration between Shopee and Malaysia's National Water Services Commission to promote water-efficient home appliances.

According to Shopee's website, the campaign gives consumers a rebate of up to 400 Malaysian ringgit ($90) when they buy selected home appliances: including 200 ringgit ($45) for washing machines; 150 ringgit ($34) for toilets or urinals; and up to 50 ringgit ($11) for water taps and shower heads (archived link).

The water commission posted about the launch of the campaign on its Facebook page on March 12, 2023 (archived link).