Bernama has not sent out a news story purportedly reporting that the government will pay a bonus of half-month salary with a minimum payment of RM500 to all civil servants for Hari Raya this year, said its editor-in-chief, Yong Soo Heong.

The fake news story had appeared on Monday in a number of Facebook accounts after the perpetrators of the story had pasted it on a page of a news portal ‘ myMetro ’, to make it look authentic.

“This is the irresponsible work of cyber pranksters with a certain agenda,” Yong said.

“While Bernama is always grateful when our news stories are acknowledged or recognised, we are not flattered whenever our name is misused,” he said.

Yong said a police report would be made today.  

Meanwhile, Harian Metro group editor Mustapha Omar, when contacted, said the newspaper had never published any news recently on civil servants getting a bonus.

In the event that such news is circulated on the Internet, as though sourced from the Harian Metro news portal, it is definitely fake and the work of irresponsible people, he said.

- Bernama