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New Delhi:

Multiple posts (here, here, here & here) containing links to unknown websites are being widely shared on social media, claiming that PM Modi and BJP are offering free mobile recharge for three months to every Indian as a reward for winning the 2024 elections and Modi becoming PM for the third time. In this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in these posts.

Claim: BJP and PM Modi are offering free recharge on the occasion of forming the government for a third term.

Fact: These viral posts are fake. Neither BJP nor PM Modi is offering any free recharge on the occasion of forming the government for the third term. The links provided in the posts direct to dubious websites. There are numerous news reports about cybercriminals committing cybercrimes through such fake messages and websites. Additionally, in a Facebook post, Chamoli Police (Uttarakhand) clarified the post as fake and advised people not to open such unknown links. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.

Clicking the URL link provided below the post led to a webpage featuring a photo of PM Modi’s rally. The webpage prompts users to click on a ‘check now’ button to avail the benefits of the offer. After clicking the button, users are asked to enter their mobile number. However, after entering the mobile number, the webpage does not lead to any other page.

We then checked the official social media handles of PM Modi and BJP to see if they had announced any such scheme (here, here, here, here. here, here, here & here). However, we found that neither PM Narendra Modi nor BJP had announced any such scheme.

During this search, we found a post shared by Chamoli police (Uttarakhand) on their Facebook page on June 5, 2024. Responding to a similar post claiming free recharge by PM Modi, they clarified the post as fake and advised people not to open such unknown links.

When similar posts claiming PM Modi’s free recharge schemes went viral before, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) clarified that the Indian Government or PM Modi is not running any such scheme.

Entering one’s mobile number on such dubious websites may result in receiving spam calls, messages, and even phishing links. Therefore, one should be careful and avoid opening these kinds of links and websites. Experts strongly advise against clicking on unknown or suspicious links, as doing so may result in the user’s device being infected and potentially lead to data theft.

To learn more about protecting yourself against online fraud and to gain valuable insights, follow FACTLY’s ‘RBI Be(A)ware’ series on YouTube. Factly has previously debunked several social media posts claiming to offer free recharges, which can be seen here and here.

To sum up, neither BJP nor PM Modi is offering any free recharge on the occasion of forming the government for the third term.

(This story was originally published by Factly, and republished by NDTV as part of the Shakti Collective)