Fact Check: Beware! Don't open random links; Centre has not announced free mobile recharge
Social media users are claiming that the Centre is providing free mobile recharge to all students for 12 months to celebrate Olympics gold medalist Neeraj
By Newsmeter Network Published on 16 Aug 2021 11:25 AM GMT
Hyderabad: Social media users are claiming that the Centre is providing free mobile recharge to all students for 12 months to celebrate Olympics gold medalist Neeraj Chopra's win at the Tokyo Olympics.
The message also contains a website link where users can fill in their details and recharge their numbers.
The post shared on Facebook read: "*नीरज चोपड़ा * ओलम्पिक में भारत के लिए *गोल्ड मैडल* जितने की खुशी में भारत सरकार सभी भारतीय बच्चो को Online पढ़ाई के लिए *₹ 2399 का 12 महीने* वाला रिचार्ज फ्री में देने का वादा किया है तो अभी निचे नीले रंग की लिंक पर क्लिक करके अपने नंबर पर रिचार्ज करे। https://free.myrecharge.site/"
"As India won Gold Medal in Olympics, the government of India has promised to give all Indian students a free recharge of Rs 2399 12 months for online studies. Now click on the blue link below and recharge your number. https://free.myrecharge.site/) (sic)," reads the translation.
The link to the post can be seen here.
Similar links to the posts can be viewed here, here.
https://www.facebook.com/
Fact Check:
The claim is false.
NewsMeter opened the link mentioned in the message, which led us to a website. It did not look like a government website. Most government websites end with 'gov.in' or 'nic.in', but the URL (free-rec.site) did not look like a usual government website.
As we chose a network operator, the next page asked for some personal details like the user's phone number and state.
On entering details, we were asked to share the post in 10 groups on WhatsApp.
We further scanned through the official website and Twitter handles of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs but there was no such notification.
https://www.education.gov.in/
Moreover, we also found a tweet by the Press Information Bureau (PIB) debunking the claim. PIB said the Centre has not made any such announcement. The tweet reiterated that people should not share their personal information on any such fake links.
Hence, the claim is false.
