Beware of bogus websites offering free laptops, smartphones, and scholarships in the name of Government - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 24, 2020
A registration link is being shared widely on social media asking students to fill up so that they can get free laptops being provided by the government. The post claims that the government is providing free laptops as schools and colleges are closed due to COVID-19. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Registration link to get free laptops being provided by the government.
Fact: It is a fraudulent link. The link redirects the user to a blog and asks for personal details. It also asks the user to share the message to 10 other people to complete the registration. Previously, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) has debunked many such fake blogs offering smartphones, laptops, and scholarships. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
On clicking the link given in the post, it redirects the user to a blog – “https://registration-for-your-laptop.blogspot.com/”. If the government is providing laptops, it does the registration through an official portal, not through a blog. Also, on filling up the details in the registration form given on the website, it redirects again to a different page, where the user is asked to share the link with 10 other people to complete the registration. No government initiative or scheme asks people to share a link on WhatsApp to complete the registration. It is a fraudulent website.
The Press Information Bureau (PIB) has previously debunked the claim when a similar website link went viral in March 2020.
#FraudAlert
A Message with a website link is circulating on Social media claiming that the Govt. is offering free laptops for youth & to click on the provided link to book it. #PIBFactCheck: The circulated link is a Spoof website to trick users perpetrated in the name of Govt. pic.twitter.com/lU10VUcoXO
Also, recently, the PIB debunked the claim when an advertisement allegedly from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs claimed that, under COVID-19 Online Education Purpose, students from 8th class to PUC 1 will be given laptops at ₹3,500.
Claim: An advertisement allegedly from Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) claims that under #COVID19 Online Education Purpose, students from 8th class to PUC 1 will be given laptops at ₹3,500. #PIBFactCheck:This claim is #Fake. MCA is not associated with any such programme. pic.twitter.com/8CSbSlvaoO
There are also other blogs which are claiming that the government is providing free smartphones and scholarships, and are asking the students to register themselves on their blogs. The Press Information Bureau (PIB) has already debunked those claims and requested people to be beware of those fraudulent websites. The tweets by the PIB can be found here and here.
To sum it up, do not register yourself on blogs for free laptops, smartphones, and scholarships. If the government offers any such product, the registration will be through official government portals.