Mounties in Richmond say they've found no evidence so far to substantiate allegations of possible voter manipulation over the social media app WeChat.

The allegations concerned messages from the Canada Wenzhou Friendship Society that appeared to offer money for votes in three Metro Vancouver cities.

Officials investigating alleged vote buying in Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby

On Friday, the City of Vancouver said messages from the Canada Wenzhou Friendship Society are circulating on the social media app, WeChat, appearing to offer money for voting in Richmond, Burnaby and Vancouver.

A picture illustration shows icons of WeChat and Weibo app in Beijing, December 5, 2013. An unprecedented Nov. 14 leak of China's Communist Party reform plans  fuelled China's biggest stock market rally in two months as it spread on microblogs and passed from smartphone to smartphone on WeChat, a three-year-old social messaging app developed by Tencent Holdings Ltd. WeChat, or Weixin in Chinese, meaning "micromessage", leapt from 121 million global monthly active users at the end of September 2012 to 272 million in just a year. It has quickly become the news source of choice for savvy mobile users in China, where a small army of censors scrub the country's Internet of politically sensitive news and "harmful" speech. Unlike popular microblogging services such as Sina Corp's Sina Weibo, where messages can reach millions of people in minutes, WeChat allows users to communicate in small, private circles of friends, and send text and voice messages for free - a big part of its success. Weibo has been particularly singled-out in the ongoing crackdown on "rumour-mongering" by China's stability-obsessed government, which views public protest as a threat to its authority. But WeChat has not escaped the government's attention, and its explosive growth means it is attracting more scrutiny than ever from the authorities. The Chinese characters above reads "China Mobile". Picture taken December 5, 2013. 

CHINA-CENSORSHIP/TENCENT

The City of Vancouver said messages are circulating on the social media app WeChat that appear to offer money for voting in Burnaby, Richmond and Vancouver.

"To date, the Richmond RCMP has only received third party allegations of wrongdoing in the election process," RCMP Cpl. Dennis Hwang said in a press release.

"No individuals have come forward to the Richmond RCMP citing that they have been victimized in any matters related to the voting process. We are continuing to encourage anyone who believes that they may have been a victim to come forward and speak to us."

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The RCMP says it doesn't routinely release details of ongoing investigations, but the update was provided to reassure the public and allow for transparency in the election.

Police say those responsible for the messages have cooperated with the investigation, and that the probe is still underway.

Vancouver and Burnaby are also conducting investigations into the messages from the Canada Wenzhou Friendship Society.

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Richmond RCMP are still investigating allegations of voter fraud over WeChat. 

Richmond police say they've found no evidence of vote buying so far

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