PONTIAN: The spread of fake news that Johor Crown Prince Tunku Mahkota Johor Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim (TMJ) would be visiting Econsave Pontian to give out generous contributions to the people caused a frenzy at the supermarket today.
The fake information disseminated via a voice recording claimed that TMJ would be going from district to district with money and spend RM200 on each shopper at Econsave Pontian from noon today.
The “news” caused people to throng the supermarket and fill up their trolleys with goods they thought would be paid by TMJ.
The Pontian Econsave management had to call the police to validate the information and when it turned out to be fake, dismayed shoppers abandoned their trolleys.
Some policemen had to maintain control around supermarket with some shoppers having to be told to leave if they were not paying for their trolley full of goods.
Econsave operation director Mas Imran Adam refuted claims of the free giveaway.
"We suffered a bit of loss today but its okay. What saddened us was that some of the people who came were disabled people and senior citizens who did not want to miss out on the free shopping frenzy," he said.
Mas said the Econsave management wouldl lodge a police report on the incident this evening.