Johor's Crown Prince Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim turned up unexpectedly at the AEON Mall in Tebrau, a suburb in Johor Bahru on April 11.

Amid the excited shoppers, he announced that he would be paying for their groceries.

There were cheers as people rushed to the supermarket shelves and filled their baskets and trolleys with groceries. Each shopper would get a royal favour of RM3,000 (S$1,015).

The Crown Prince, who was apparently there for "five minutes", ended up spending over RM1 million (S$338,200) for his subjects' shopping spree.

According to Johoreans interviewed by The Star Online, they appreciated the Crown Prince's generosity. Said Rafidah Mohd Khalid:

"We are the lucky ones as Tunku Ismail helped to pay the bills. If it’s not for him, many of us would not be able to shop for so many things."

Flip side

But what happened after the Crown Prince paid their bills and left the mall?

Twitter user @AinieHaziqa posted a pic, apparently of shopping trolleys full of goods that were abandoned once shoppers realised they were too late to receive the handout.

Her caption reads:

"This is what happened after ramai yang tak sempat bayar di kaunter di AEON Tebrau semalam. -_- MashaAllah. It’s really sad."

Translated:

"This is what happened after many people who couldn't afford to pay at the counter at AEON Tebrau yesterday. -_- God has willed. It's really sad."

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Several Malaysian users commented on a Facebook post that MGAG put up of the incident, saying the Crown Prince could have handled the giveaway more efficiently.

Others also blamed the "greedy" shoppers for turning the Crown Prince's charitable act into a scene from a disaster movie:

Follow-up hoaxes

Unfortunately, the Crown Prince's visit had another unintended consequence.

On April 12, a rumour began circulating that the Crown Prince would be visiting another mall, the AEON Big hypermarket in Kluang, a district in Johor.

Anticipating more freebies, shoppers began filling their carts.

https://twitter.com/nrlmaizurah/status/984366875596414976

Translated:

"Chaotic, after they said that the Crown Prince was coming. (The shoppers) took the goods and forgot everything else. Sympathise with the staff who have to put back the items and arrange them neatly."

But it was just a rumour, the Crown Prince did not show up.

And there was yet another rumour that he would visit the Econsave hypermarket in Pontian, Johor, causing over 1,000 shoppers to visit in hopes of getting a handout.

According to the Malay Mail Online, Econsave operations manager Mas Imran Adam confirmed that the rumour was started on social media, and the Malaysian police have confirmed that the allegation was "fake".

With the Malaysian Parliament having recently passed an Anti-Fake News Bill, the person who spread the rumour might receive a jail sentence of up to 10 years.

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Top image adapted from Johor Southern Tigers' Facebook page and @AinieHaziqa's Twitter page.