Police in Gauteng have slammed reports on social media about a video that an elderly woman was purporting arrested after she purchased groceries using fake bank notes at a Shoprite store in the Rietgat policing precinct.
This resulted in police at Rietgat police station launching an inquiry to determine the authenticity 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 or 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.”
Disseminating disadvantages the SAPS because all criminal charges must be investigated.
As a result, the police use state resources and waste critical time that could have been spent investigating actual incidents.
Eventually, this disadvantages victims of crime and impedes service delivery, the police said.
The Star
anita.nkonki@inl.co.za