Fake Malaysian police statement on anti-corruption operation misleads online
- Published on August 11, 2026 at 09:26
- 2 min read
- By Najmi MAMAT, AFP Malaysia
Malaysia has cracked down on corruption under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim -- targeting political figures, institutional leakages and enforcement syndicates -- but a circulating post claiming police will launch a special operation to weed out corrupt individuals shares a fabricated statement and image. The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) said the post is false and has misused the identity of the acting deputy inspector-general of police. AFP also found that the image contains the watermark of Google's AI model, Gemini, indicating it was fabricated.
"'Ops Cantas Integrity': From top to bottom. We will root out any individual involved in corruption -- from the highest positions in the administration, all the way down to the streets." reads part of a lengthy Malay-language Facebook post shared on August 9, 2026.
The post shares a statement purportedly made by acting Deputy Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim Darus at a press conference, warning politicians, civil servants, members of the armed forces and the public that police will not take corruption lightly.
An image shared alongside the statement shows Ibrahim speaking in front of a podium bearing the PDRM's logo, with cameras trained on him.
Since taking office in 2022, Anwar's government has led a crackdown on corruption, spearheaded by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), working cross-agency with the police and other authorities (archived here, here and here).
Two former prime ministers, a prominent tycoon and former finance minister, as well as high-ranking government officials have been charged by prosecutors for corruption (archived here and here).
The MACC said it had seized and recovered corruption proceeds amounting to more than RM8.5 billion ($2.05 billion) in 2025.
Similar posts claiming police held a special press conference at their headquarters to announce the operation circulated elsewhere on Facebook and user comments indicated that they believed the image and statement were issued by the country's police force.
"That is what the people expect," reads one comment, while another user wrote: "May what is spoken be fulfilled," referring to the supposed police statement.
However, both the image and the statement are fabricated.
The sparkle watermark of Google's AI tool Gemini can be seen at the bottom right corner of the image. Visual anomalies -- such as the unnatural positioning of the podium and its microphone, the oddly placed cameramen and a distorted hand -- all point to the image being AI-generated as well.
The tech giant's SynthID detector has also flagged the image was made with its AI model.
Keyword searches on Google led to a statement shared on the PDRM's official Facebook account on August 9, warning the public that the circulating statement and image are false and that no such press conference or statement was made (archived link).
"The content circulated uses fabricated images and identity, as well as the position of the acting deputy inspector-general of police, to create the impression that the purported statement represents the official position of the police," the statement said.
It added that a police report had been lodged over the matter and investigations were ongoing.
AFP has previously debunked other falsehoods impersonating authorities and government agencies in Malaysia.
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