Facebook, Instagram and X were some of the social media platforms on which South African users reported the arrest of an unnamed elderly woman from Jukulyn, Pretoria, Gauteng, for using fake money to buy groceries.

The posts claimed that the elderly woman received the counterfeit money from Kelechi Johnson Adegoke, her son-in-law, who presented the money to her family as bride price.

Millions of views have accumulated on these posts. One had been viewed 1.6 million times on X at press time.

FIJ checked the posts and reached out to the South African Police Services to confirm the arrest.

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CLAIM: An elderly woman from Jukulyn, Pretoria, Gauteng, has been arrested at a Shoprite store for using fake money she received from her son-in-law to buy groceries.

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VERIFICATION: FIJ contacted the police in South Africa via mail and social media to confirm the arrest of the elderly woman and some of her family members in Gauteng, and they responded with a statement, which reads:

“The Police in Gauteng have noted with concern a video and article circulating on social media purporting that an elderly woman was arrested after she purchased groceries using fake bank notes at a Shoprite store in Rietgat policing precinct, at an area commonly known as Jukulyn.

“The Police in Rietgat Police Station conducted an investigation in order to ascertain the validity of the allegations.

“The Police would like to repudiate those allegations. The police visited a local Shoprite store and spoke to the Manager who denied claims that their store caught anyone paying with fake money. There is also no such case registered at Rietgat and the neighbouring Police Stations.

“It is disheartening that irresponsible social media users would deliberately post misinformation about an area while others share carelessly without verifying whether or not the story is accurate.

“The sharing of misinformation puts the South African Police Service at a disadvantage because all the allegations of crime have to be investigated. This leads to the Police utilising State resources and losing valuable time that could have been better utilised to investigate real incidents. Eventually that also disadvantages victims of crime and hampers service delivery.”

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The same statement can be found on the South African Police Service website. It was published on Saturday.

VERDICT: The claim that an elderly woman from Jukulyn, Pretoria, Gauteng, was recently arrested at a Shoprite store for using fake or counterfeit money from her Nigerian son-in-law’s bride price payment to buy groceries is false.