Fact Check: Modi govt announces Rs 5,000 reward? No, the Facebook ads are a scam
Facebook advertisements have gone viral with the claim that the Centre has announced free money for everyone.
By - Rahul Adhikari
Claim:The videos show the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government promoting schemes offering Rs 5,000 for free through Facebook advertisements.
Fact:False. The Facebook advertisements are fake. The government has not announced any schemes giving out free money.
Hyderabad: Facebook advertisements of two videos and an image have gone viral on social media, claiming that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government has announced free cash prizes and cashback offers for citizens.
The first video advert features images of PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The text in the video reads, “Click on the ‘Get offer’ button for a chance to win 5,000 rupees” (translated from Hindi). In the background, a voice resembling PM Modi can be heard saying in Hindi, “Brothers and sisters, click on the ‘Get offer’ button now and get up to 5,000 rupees as a prize from me.” The post also contains a link with a clickable ‘Get offer’ button.
The video was shared on Facebook with the caption “Stay updated.” (Archive)
The second advertisement, shared on Facebook, features a video displaying text along with the logo of the payment platform PhonePe. (Archive)
The text in the video reads, “Scratch the card below to win up to 2,000 rupees cashback in your PhonePe wallet.” (translated from Hindi).
The advert also contains a link with a ‘Get offer’ button. In the background, a voice resembling PM Modi says in Hindi, “The scratch card is ready. Just scratch below and see whether 2,000 rupees is waiting for you. Click and try your luck.”
A third alleged government offer is an image that promises users a prize of up to Rs 1,478.
The image was shared on Facebook (Archive). It features an image of an Rs 500 note with the text, “Touch the Rs 500 note and win a prize of up to Rs 1,478. (Translated from Kannada)” It also includes a link.
But are these links trustworthy?
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claims are false. These Facebook advertisements redirect users to fake websites designed to resemble official government websites. The fake websites redirect users to payment apps and ask them to pay instead.
Where do the links redirect?
We clicked on the ‘Get offer’ button on the first video and it took us to a fake website. It has only one home page, with no buttons or other options.
It features the BJP’s lotus logo at the top. The page includes a scratch card and several texts suggesting that, by scratching the card, people can get 5,000 rupees. One of the texts in Hindi reads, “Scratch the card to get 5,000 rupees free in everyone’s account through Jan Dhan Yojana.”
We scratched the card and it showed that we won Rs 1,494. It then redirected us to PhonePe’s payment page and asked us to pay Rs 1,494. The transaction note suggested that if we paid the money, it would be credited to our bank account.
However, if one were to make a payment, the money would go to a different merchant’s account, as seen in the screenshots below.
The process is similar in the second advertisement, too. Once we click on the ‘Get offer’ button, it takes us to a fake website and then asks us to make a payment. In both cases, users are redirected to a payment gateway, indicating a coordinated scam pattern. However, when we clicked on the link in the second post, it asked us to pay Rs 965.
The link in the viral image led us to a fake website featuring images of PM Modi and BJP minister JP Nadda, and the text on the home page was written in Kannada.
The text translates to “Free reward of Rs 5,000 for everyone from Modi. To celebrate Modi’s birthday, everyone gets Rs 5,000 for today only.” On this website, users are asked to pay Rs 1,478 to receive the promised amount.
Analysis of the audio
To verify the authenticity of the voices in the videos, NewsMeter analysed the audio using the AI detection tool Deepfake-O-Meter. The tool showed strong indicators for both audio files being generated using AI.
Is there an official free prize offer from the government?
We checked whether the Central government had launched any scheme offering free money to users for PM Modi’s birthday or for any other reason. We found no official announcements or credible reports to support the claim.
The scams follow a similar pattern in all posts—from Facebook to a fake website and then to payment apps. However, the amounts differ and the payment merchants are different.
Based on the evidence, NewsMeter concluded that the claims are false.
