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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Economy & business fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about economy & business. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

7,100 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYEconomy & business

NPR document is mandatory to withdraw money from the bank accounts from 01 April 2020

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a notice circulating on social media that said people had to submit a National Population Register (NPR) document at banks to withdraw money from 1 April 2020, or risk having their accounts blocked. The review examined whether an official rule or circular imposed that requirement. It reports that searches found no such Reserve Bank of India (RBI) circular and no government order requiring the document. The review’s key distinction is between an acceptable document for Know Your Customer (KYC) verification and a document that customers must use exclusively. It says the RBI’s KYC Master Direction lists a letter from the NPR containing a person’s name and address among the Officially Valid Documents (OVDs), but does not make it mandatory. Other OVDs could be submitted instead, so the NPR document’s inclusion on the list did not establish the notice’s claimed withdrawal restriction. As additional context, the review says the Central Bank of India had clarified in response to a similar message circulated in January 2020 that an NPR document was not compulsory for KYC: a customer could submit any one document from the OVD list. Taken together, the reported absence of an official requirement and the distinction between an optional accepted KYC document and a mandatory condition contradict the notice’s claim that NPR documentation was required to withdraw money from 1 April 2020.

NewtralEconomy & business

Mercadona sortea un bono de 150 euros para que te lleven la comida a casa

Publisher’s rating: Falso

The claim concerns a Facebook page called “Mercadona Te regala 150€” that advertised a supposed Mercadona shopping voucher. According to the review, the page told people to send a message containing “Son gratis” to obtain it. Newtral reports that Mercadona’s communications team said the company was not running a promotion or giveaway and did not give away shopping vouchers. That company statement directly contradicts the advertised offer. The review also reports Mercadona’s warning that its brand and image were being used without authorization. The company advised customers not to provide banking, card, or other personal information, or to make any payment. The evidence in the excerpt is the company’s statement to Newtral; it does not describe an independent test of the Facebook page or provide further details about who operated it.

Deutsche Presse-AgenturEconomy & business

Der US-Elektroautohersteller Tesla will östlich von Berlin eine "Gigafabrik" bauen, in der jährlich bis zu 500 000 Fahrzeuge produziert werden sollen. Auf Facebook wird immer wieder behauptet, Tesla suche "ausschließlich Mitarbeiter, die fließend Polnisch sprechen" (http://archive.ph/i2iNV). Der Text wurde von der AfD Bayern am 13. Januar verbreitet

Publisher’s rating: Tesla sucht nach vielen Bewerberinnen und Bewerbern für unterschiedliche Gewerke. Nur sehr wenige Interessenten müssen Polnisch sprechen können.

The claim concerned Tesla’s planned factory east of Berlin, where up to 500,000 vehicles a year were expected to be produced. It said Tesla was looking “exclusively” for employees fluent in Polish; the review identifies the Facebook post as having been shared by AfD Bavaria on January 13. The review distinguishes one Polish-language job requirement from Tesla’s broader hiring activity. The investigation reports that, around the turn of 2019–2020, Tesla advertised a “Recruitment Operations Coordinator” position responsible for recruitment procedures, and that this role required fluency in German, English and Polish. But it says Tesla had also published dozens of other factory vacancies, usually requiring German and English. Its comparison therefore indicates that the language requirement for this particular recruitment role was not a requirement for all factory applicants. The review gives examples of other jobs Tesla had been seeking to fill since December: mechanical engineers and electrical technicians. It says those positions required fluent German and that Polish was rarely mentioned, even as an optional skill. Taken together, the reported job listings contradict the claim of an exclusively Polish-speaking workforce: Polish was required for the recruitment coordinator role, while the cited hiring activity covered multiple trades and generally emphasized German and English.

LivecoinsEconomy & business

Bitcoin Revolution é a melhor oportunidade que já vi em toda minha vida que pode construir fortunas de maneira rápida.

Publisher’s rating: FALSO

The quoted claim appeared in a purported testimonial attributed to TV presenter Tiago Leifert, promoting Bitcoin Revolution as a way to build wealth quickly. Livecoins reports that the testimonial was part of fraudulent material circulated online, including links shared on social media and WhatsApp. The article says those links led to a blog promoting Bitcoin Revolution and that the material presented Leifert as endorsing investments in the service. The investigation’s central check was whether the endorsement and interview were genuine. Livecoins states that Leifert had never offered these investments or given an interview about Bitcoin. It describes the testimonial as a fabricated attribution and says the presenter’s image was used to make the promotion appear credible. The article also reports that a reader submitted suspicious material purporting to show Leifert speaking to CBN; the excerpt does not describe independent verification of that recording beyond the article’s findings about the fraud. The article places the claim within a wider Bitcoin Revolution scam that used images of public figures, including Leifert and, previously, Jorge Paulo Lemann. It concludes that the assertions that Leifert invested in Bitcoin Revolution were false and misleading. Thus, the statement in the claim is evidence of what the fraudulent promotion said—not a genuine statement or endorsement by Leifert.

FACTLYEconomy & business

The Central Government’s contribution in PMFBY has fallen from 50% to 25%

Publisher’s rating: PARTLY TRUE

The review examined a Congress party post stating that the Centre’s contribution to the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) had dropped from 50% to 25%. It places the claim in the context of the scheme’s revamp, announced on 19 February 2020, and compares the previous Centre–State subsidy arrangement with the revised contribution limits. The article’s conclusion distinguishes between irrigated and unirrigated areas rather than treating 25% as the rate for all areas. [S1]

FACTLYEconomy & business

PMFBY has provided resilience to 6.11 crores farmers insured under scheme

Publisher’s rating: UNVERIFIED

The claim concerns the number of farmers insured under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY). In the 1 February 2020 budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said about 6.11 crore farmers had been insured. The review examined whether reported scheme data substantiated that figure, noting that the government had announced the scheme’s revamping on 19 February 2020. (S1: “The statement made during the budget speech delivered on 01 February 2020 claims that about 6.11 crore farmers have been insured under the PMFBY.”) The review compared government reporting, including the Agriculture Department’s 2018–19 annual report, parliamentary answers and the department’s dashboard. The annual report gave 5.21 crore farmers insured in 2017–18. A 7 February 2020 Rajya Sabha answer reported 5.68 crore for 2018–19, but said the Rabi 2018–19 claims had not been finalised. The review therefore found no complete, current reported total confirming the budget-speech figure. (S1: “The total number of farmers insured during 2017-18 was reported to be 520.83 lakh i.e. 5.21 crore.”; “Since the claims from Rabi 2018-19 were not finalised, the total number of farmers insured during 2018-19 stands as 568.12 lakh i.e. 5.68 crore.”) The dashboard showed 5.26 crore for 2018 and 5.35 crore for 2019, but its figures were lower than the parliamentary answer despite being uploaded later, on 26 February 2020. Given that discrepancy and incomplete reporting for the relevant seasons, the review concluded that available data did not establish the claimed 6.11 crore total. (S1: “The dashboard shows that the data was uploaded on 26 February 2020.”; “In the absence of fully reported data for Kharif 2018 and 2019, and Rabi 2018-19, the claim in the budget speech cannot be verified.”)

Deutsche Presse-AgenturEconomy & business

Auf Facebook kursiert ein Post, wonach jeder zweite Deutsche nur eine "Mini-Rente" bekommen würde. Dem Beitrag zufolge verdient jeder zweite Bundesbürger weniger als 2500 Euro brutto und erhält deshalb selbst nach 45 Jahren nur eine Rente auf Grundsicherungsniveau von 795 Euro

Publisher’s rating: Diese Rechnung ist irreführend. Ab einem Einkommen von etwa 2000 Euro brutto erhält man bei 45 Beitragsjahren eine Rente auf oder über dem Niveau der Grundsicherung im Alter. Bei den genannten 2500 Euro Bruttomonatslohn bekommt man nach 45 Jahren eine Bruttorente von rund 1100 Euro.

The Facebook post claimed that half of Germans earn less than €2,500 gross and would therefore receive only €795 a month after 45 years of contributions. The dpa review examined that specific calculation, using figures attributed to the German Pension Insurance (DRV) and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (BMAS). The DRV figures cited in the review put the gross pension after 45 years of contributions at about €1,100 a month for someone earning €2,500 gross monthly. The review says pensioners would then pay about 11% for insurance, and possibly taxes, leaving somewhat less than €1,000 net. In the same account, a person would need to earn about €2,000 gross and contribute for 45 years to reach a net pension of €795; higher gross earnings would produce a higher pension. Thus the post’s €795 figure does not follow from its stated €2,500 monthly earnings. The review also distinguishes the pension calculation from the post’s claim about how many people earn below a threshold. It says the post gives no source for its broad claim about half of all Germans. The cited December 2018 figure was that 50.2% of socially insured employees earned €2,700 or less, but that statistic excluded, among others, people in mini-jobs, civil servants and self-employed people. It therefore does not establish the post’s claim about half of all Germans earning less than €2,500.