Controlling fake messages being circulated on social media has almost become impossible. From mob lynching to creating unnecessary health scare, fake messages have caused a lot of disasters in the country lately. These hoax messages also try and grab your attention with discounts on popular brands related to an anniversary celebration, sale, so on and so forth.
Messages claiming to be from the government have also managed to fool people in the past. They come loaded with freebies, offers, unknown government schemes, programs and all sorts of features. And the latest message to go viral on social media claims that the Narendra Modi government is offering free cycles to ‘boys and girls’ under
‘Pradhan Mantri Cycle Yojana 2018’. It does not specify who made the declaration or the source of the information.
Also Read: A Twitter user Asked P.M Modi to Smile More Often, Here is How Modi Responded
It says that all girls and boys will get free cycles and that the cycles will be distributed on August 15. The fake message also has a link which redirects to http://bharat-sarkar.com. It asks people to forward the message to friends and relatives and to avail the benefits provided by the government.
It asks you to register on the website with details after filling in your name, father’s name, the name of your school, the class you are studying in, address and the state you are applying from. Once you register, it says they have received your application and to complete the process, a pop message asks you to forward it to 10 more people on WhatsApp.
Such messages claiming to be from the government have become quite common in the country. One should cross check with a credible source before falling for such messages. Many-a-times these fake messages come with grave discrepancies and spelling errors which points out that it is not real. For e.g. in this message, the link of the website ends with Sarkar.com; all links to government websites will end only in: .gov.in and not in anything else (e.g. .com). Websites like these can also carry viruses and one has to be careful to not click on the links given in these messages.
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