A POST circulating on social media platform Threads claims that the government has approved financial assistance of RM1,500 for housewives, senior citizens and single mothers.
The post, which includes an image of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim delivering a speech, states that applications can be made from Feb 8 to 13, through a link provided in the account's profile.
But is the government really distributing RM1,500 to these groups in February?
Verdict:
FALSE
There is no RM1,500 financial assistance programme for housewives, senior citizens and single mothers, according to fact-checking website MyCheck.my.
The claim was spread through a Threads account called "bantuankerajaan_malaysia_2026", which instructed interested applicants to visit the profile and click on a provided link.
According to MyCheck.my, the link was clearly not from a government website as it did not end with "gov.my", the standard domain for all official Malaysian government sites.
Upon clicking the link, it led to a page that required users to fill in their name and Telegram phone number. The page used mixed language, with English and Malay jumbled together in ways that would never appear on official government websites.
The post also featured an image of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim speaking at what appeared to be an official event. Using reverse image search techniques, MyCheck.my identified that the image had nothing to do with any financial assistance programme.
Instead, the photograph was taken when the Prime Minister was speaking at the International Conference on Governance and Integrity Malaysia 2025 on July 15, 2025, and had been lifted and misused for the scam.
MyCheck.my found that the Finance Ministry had already denied similar claims on its Facebook page on Jan 12, stating there was no RM1,500 assistance programme as being circulated and advising the public not to be easily deceived by false information.
This is not the first time such claims have circulated. MyCheck.my issued a report on July 18, 2025, regarding almost identical allegations that the government was providing RM1,500 financial assistance to housewives and single mothers.
In that case, the link provided was actually a phishing tactic to steal personal information and hack victims' Telegram accounts through a method known as Telegram Takeover, where scammers gain control of messaging accounts by tricking users into providing their phone numbers and verification codes.
The suspicious link and request for Telegram phone numbers follows the same pattern, suggesting this latest scam uses similar tactics to compromise accounts and steal personal data.
The public is advised not to click on suspicious links or provide personal information, particularly phone numbers used for Telegram accounts, to unknown sources.
For authentic information about government assistance programmes, always refer to official government websites ending in "gov.my" or verified official social media accounts of relevant ministries.
References:
1.https://mycheck.my/more.php?
