Accounts on social media circulated a report claiming that a hack and a general technical outage had hit the Sham Cash app, amid "fears that billions of Syrian pounds would be stolen by those running it".
The fact-checking team verified that the Sham Cash app was working properly by carrying out a test transfer through it, and confirmed that the app was running normally, with no technical fault in its operation.
The team also checked the report through a keyword search and a review of official websites and accounts, and found no credible report of a hack or a technical outage in the app.
Why is this claim misleading?
Fabricated news: The claim rested on a report of a hack and a technical outage for which official sources and accounts carried no trace, and which did not appear when the app was tested, and it was published alongside fears of users' money being stolen, in order to suggest that their balances were at risk.
