Fact Check

January 23, 2026 A scam operation posing as a dog breeding and adoption agency is cheating would-be dog owners of their hard-earned cash, a veterinary clinic and grooming salon close to the operation’s listed address warn. Last week, a social media post by Abaigeal Ragogna, an employee at a dog grooming salon in the town

A 1910 census listed his great-grandfather as Maltese… but the family may have cited Maltese ancestry to pass as white

Pope Francis died of a stroke on April 21, 2025, less than a month after returning home from five weeks in hospital battling double pneumonia (archived here). 

This X post from March 28, 2025, posted an image of two men, with the one embracing the other and implied in the caption in insulting and homophobic language that the photo depicted Kemal Ataturk and proved he was gay. The post was shared more than 100 times. 

March 10, 2025 The role of the court expert has come under recent scrutiny, following British forensic accountant Jeremy Harbinson’s refusal to travel to Malta to testify in a prominent criminal case. Harbinson is one of the authors of a 1,200 page report into the privatisation of Karin Grech, St Luke’s and Gozo general hospitals

“Massive riot in Greece. Thousands of patriots are calling for the resignation of the globalist treacherous government. More than 500 illegal migrants arrive in Greece by boat every day,” reads an English-language post on X that has been viewed over a million times since it was posted on March 2, 2025 and shared more than 7,000 times. It is accompanied by a 15-second video showing massive crowds of demonstrators walking down a major street in central Athens, near the Greek parliament building. 

The volcanic island of Santorini has been rattled by an unprecedented wave of seismic activity, including seven successive tremors measuring over 4.0 magnitude on February 6, 2025 (archived here). An even stronger 5.2 magnitude tremor was recorded on February 5, according to the Athens Geodynamic Institute. 

Santorini and its neighbouring islands were hit by hundreds of tremors in early February 2025, including more than 40 earthquakes with a magnitude of over 4.0 within a period of 72 hours (archived here). 

Maltese students have fewer school hours and longer holidays than Europeans

“Ancient Greek mosaics dating back to the 2nd century BC, discovered in Zeugma, Turkey, show remarkable artistry and provide a glimpse into the cultural wealth of the Eastern Roman Empire,” reads this Facebook post from December 10, 2024, which has since been shared more than 1,100 times. 

January 3, 2025 Scams don’t take a holiday. In fact, it’s safe to expect more of them – on social media, SMS, phone calls or email – around festivities. We spotted one (or perhaps several) on Facebook just before Christmas. It wasn’t a post doing the rounds on a closed group. Instead, it was a

“First day of operation of Thessaloniki Metro!!! What we paid again!!” read this Facebook post from November 30, 2024, since shared more than 700 times. The post included a video showing water running from the roof into what appears to be a metro train carriage.

November 13, 2024 A false story about a lost child, which was called out as a scam by an American TV station earlier this year, has made it to Malta. The post, which carries two identical photos of a young boy, claims the three-year-old was found in Malta and has been taken to a Police

The fire broke out near the village of Varnavas, north of Athens and reached the northern suburbs of the capital the following day. Authorities evacuated several towns around Athens, as well as hospitals. Meanwhile, the Greek fire service said 702 firefighters and 35 aircraft were battling the flames.

The shop says it has been inundated with calls about a series of false adverts

August 16, 2024 Just after Nicolette Ghirxi was found fatally stabbed in her Swatar home in the early hours of Monday 12 August, police were locked in a dangerous showdown with her ex-partner, Edward Johnston, on the pitch-dark St Julians’ shoreline. Johnston is believed to have murdered Ghirxi earlier in the night. The negotiation ended in

A seemingly discriminatory advert for an apartment rental raised questions about the limits of property owners’ right to handpick their tenants

Hundreds of almost identical posts have hit Maltese Facebook in the past week

August 1, 2024 Whether or not you watched the Paris Olympics opening ceremony last week, you undoubtedly know about the controversy made out of one particular moment. People the world over have described the act as a ‘mockery’ of Christianity. But there is more to the picture than meets the eye. The segment in question

July 30, 2024 It’s a trick as old as time, one common among Shakepeare’s Iagos, modern day demagogues, and cyber scammers: deception is most effective when it plays upon emotion. Sympathy scams are a perfect example. These typically take the form of hoax social media posts purporting to be about something that tends to play

The photo went viral on Tuesday, sparking a series of anti-immigrant remarks

A series of scam posts use audio deepfakes to imitate popular local figures

July 8, 2024 On Saturday 6 July, an image showing what appeared to be a digger demolishing rainbow-coloured steps in a seemingly suburban street while a man stood watching a few metres away, was widely shared on Facebook. Amongst those who shared it was a self-proclaimed ‘personal blog’ page called ‘This is Malta’, which shared

The Home Owners Association made the claim last week

Switzerland’s Nemo won the Eurovision Song Contest on May 11, 2024, becoming the first artist identifying as non-binary to claim victory. Twenty-four-year-old Nemo’s “The Code” won the highest score from European nations’ juries, and enough of the popular votes to get 591 points, edging out Croatia in the final.

The caller is asking people to hand over their bank and ID details

Facebook posts like this one on February 9 shared the photo of a boy with the claim that he was among elementary school children in Japan eating Greek food to honour the Greek Language Day the same day.

Scammers are trying to get hold of people’s card details

Fake job scams are becoming widespread in Malta

The posts are the latest in a long line of cryptocurrency scams

A Broadcasting Authority survey has seen both party stations claimed the top spot

Some have welcomed more enforcement, but others raised doubt over their legality

Memes and videos making misleading claims about international Pride events have now reached Malta

Several organisations expressed their concern at declining results

Thousands shared the photo believing it to be genuine

The footage was widely shared on Facebook on Wednesday

The claim was made on a Serbian community Facebook group

A post offering people the chance to win free goods went viral on Wednesday

Cramped properties have become a common sight in Malta’s rental market

A Facebook post about a wounded dog is the latest in a series of hoax posts

AI fabricated references to back up its claims

A Facebook post making this claim went viral on Thursday

February 20, 2023 A digitally created image showing a Greek firefighter holding a girl has been widely shared on social media in Greece following the devastating February 6 earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Many users believed it was a photograph taken from the disaster zone and showed a Greek fireman rescuing a Turkish girl. But

December 16, 2022 A video of remote-controlled fighter jet models flying at a competition in China has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in social media posts in several languages and even published by the Chinese embassy in France alongside a false claim that it shows Chinese J-20 stealth fighter jets. A reverse image