Fabricated banknote showing presidential candidate misleads Sri Lankans ahead of polls

"It has started with 10,000," read part of a Sinhala-language Facebook post published on August 21, 2024.

It included an image that purportedly showed a fan of 10,000-rupee banknotes featuring presidential candidate Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

The post suggested electoral victory for the 55-year-old Marxist leader would spell financial disaster for Sri Lanka, which is still reeling from a 2022 economic crisis and unrest that ousted strongman president Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

The bankrupt island nation is set to hold its first presidential elections since the unrest on September 21 (archived link).

President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 75, faces a daunting challenge from 57-year-old career politician Sajith Premadasa, the parliamentary leader of the opposition, as well as from leftist leader Dissanayake, whose National People's Power (NPP) coalition is popular among the young.

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Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on September 11, 2024

The image was also shared alongside a similar false claim on Facebook here and here.

Comments on the posts indicated some social media users were misled.

"If these guys win, the value of the 5,000 will be diminished," one wrote. 

"Country will be bankrupt as soon as they come. The country with the highest denomination. Bankrupt countries" another said.

However, the Central Bank of Sri Lank told AFP it had not printed 10,000 currency notes.

"Central Bank of Sri Lanka has not printed the referred currency note," it said in an email on August 30, 2024.

The bank has the sole authority to issue currency in the island nation. The highest cash denomination listed on its website was 5,000 rupees as of September 13, 2024 (archived link).

Further analysis of the supposed banknote found it featured the same images of two dams and a butterfly as the existing 5,000 rupee banknote.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the image in the false posts (left) and a 5,000 rupee note (right) with the corresponding features highlighted: 

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Image comparison of the original bank note (right) and fabricated image (left) in the false Facebook post.

AFP previously debunked a similar false claim here.