‘Government is giving free internet for 3 months’, beware of this fake message on WhatsApp!

A fake WhatsApp message is going viral, in which it is claimed that the government is giving free internet to 100 million i.e. 10 crore users for three months. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) has termed the message as a fraud and confirmed that no such announcement has been made by the government. The message also contains a link that can be used to trick users and steal their personal data. Users have been advised not to pay attention to any such messages and also inform their other contacts about such scams.

PIB tweeted information about the fake WhatsApp message on June 1. Also shared a short video showing the content of the message. The video shows that the message gives wrong information to the users. It is written that the government is providing free internet and this offer is available for Jio, Airtel and Vi (Vodafone Idea) users till June 29. It also includes a link that takes the user to a website that asks the user to submit their personal information. Keep in mind that by doing this all your data can go into wrong hands. Therefore avoid doing this.

Such fake messages often go viral. In April, a message went viral claiming to bring WhatsApp Pink, which could allow hackers to obtain user data and gain access to affected users’ phones. PIB had also informed about another fake message last week, in which it was falsely claimed that the government is keeping an eye on WhatsApp and if a red tick appears in your chat, action can be taken against you.

To prevent fake messages from spreading, a label ‘forwarded many times’ is written on the message in WhatsApp, but still this does not stop people from spreading the message.