Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
BJP, Congress offering ‘free phone recharge’ so that people can vote for them in the upcoming general elections.
Fact
No such scheme, websites have been found to be “suspicious” owing to proximity to malicious websites.
Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, most likely to be scheduled for next month, social media and Whatsapp have seen several users claiming that both the BJP and the Congress are offering “phone recharge” freebies to woo voters.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi is offering ‘three months free recharge’ so that more people can vote for BJP in the 2024 general elections,” reads one such claim, directing users to a link, while other claims, following the same format, are in the name of the Congress.
We received multiple queries on our Whatsapp tipline (9999499044 ), requesting us to fact-check the “free-recharge” claims.
Newschecker had already debunked these claims on October 25, 2023, and November 6, 2023, learning that there were no such schemes and that the websites in the links were deemed suspicious and marked “Doubtful. Medium-Risk. Alert” by Scam Detector, a major fraud prevention resource.
The claims were earlier viral in the context of the assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana, and have resurfaced now in the context of the Lok Sabha polls.
If you would like us to fact-check a claim, give feedback or lodge a complaint, WhatsApp us at 9999499044 or email us at checkthis@newschecker.in. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill out the form. Follow our WhatsApp channel for more updates.
Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
