WhatsApp message promising free internet access from govt for 3 months is fake, PIB issues warning

A fake message has been circulating on WhatsApp over the past few days that claims the Indian government is offering free internet access to 100 million people for three months. Sounds too good to be true? Correct. The government is doing no such thing, this message is fake. The message also comes with a link that might be a malicious one. If you click on it you might allow hackers to gain access to your device and steal your personal data or worse.

The Press Information Bureau (PIB) has also flagged this message as fraud and has issued an alert on Twitter and users are advised to ignore this message if they receive it and also warn others regarding this. Particularly the people who might be forwarding it.

PIB shared a video with all details about this fake WhatsApp message on June 1 highlighting the content of the message. The message tells users that the free offer to get three months of internet access from the government is available for Jio, Airtel, and Vi (Vodafone Idea) users and open till June 29. The message then mentions a link that takes you to a website where you are supposed to fill in your personal details.

If you share your details with websites like these you are risking your personal data. PIB has also warned people to not click on fraudulent links like the one shared in the WhatsApp message because they might turn out to be malicious ones.

At this point, we are used to fake messages circulating on WhatsApp and know that we must ignore them, but many people are still unaware. The best way to figure out if a message is fake or not is to check if what they are offering/stating sounds too good to be true, like three months of free internet, in this case. If it does, then ignore the message and warn others. Also, do not click on any link that comes with messages like these.