Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
A post is going viral on social media claiming that the Ministry of Education in India is providing free laptops to all students as part of a Government scheme with a link to a website to check if the individual is eligible for a laptop. Newschecker found these claims to be untrue.
The post shared on Facebook by a page called Anbiyam Tube which claims to be based out of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The post reads ‘URGENT, Government giving FREE laptop💻 to all the students of india. Register your name on Gov-Laptops Site to get FREE laptop now. Further, it provides a link and ask people to click on it to check their “eligibility” for the scheme.
The Facebook link is available here.
Newschecker found similar claims on Facebook and Twitter with similar captions.
Newschecker also received several requests to check this claim on our Whatsapp tip line at 9999499044.
Also Read: Shinzo Abe Killed Over Japanese COVID Policies? No, Viral Claim Lacks Evidence
Fact Check /Verification
We started our investigation by clicking on the link provided in the message to check the authenticity of the claim and were redirected to blog website called “India Edu Laptop N” which claims that under the ‘Free Laptop Scheme 2022’ Government will provide free laptop to everyone across the country.
Presented in the style of a Facebook post, it contains the Government of India logo along with the name of the Ministry of Education. On scrolling further one can observe the numbers of likes and shares. Interestingly, this number keeps on changing every time the URL is refreshed. Here it shows 134k interactions on the post.
It also shows comments allegedly made by people who claim to have actually received the free laptop in order to make it look authentic. However, on clicking any of these profile names, one is not directed to any new URL or page indicating that these profiles are not actually connected to real profiles or pages on the Facebook platform.
As the display pictures of the profile of commentators were extremely pixellated, we wanted to check the authenticity of these profiles. We individually searched for the same profiles on Facebook and did not find any matching the same display pictures as shown above.
What Happens if you Click on the Link in the blog?
Upon clicking the continue button we were redirected to fill out the name and education level of the participant who wishes to receive a free laptop under the scheme.
After filling out the details, Newschecker was redirected to menu which read along with a share button at the bottom:
After verification, You have been qualified to get free Laptop. How to proceed:
1. Share it with 5 groups or 15 friends on WhatsApp (Click on the “SHARE” icon below).
2. will be redirected automatically to the Department for Education page after the GREEN verification bar is filled.
3. You will receive a confirmation by SMS in 15 minutes.
Upon clicking the share button, Newschecker was asked to open WhatsApp and share the viral claim with as many people as possible. After sharing the message, Newschecker was redirected to a website which asked to claim the laptop by clicking on a button.
After clicking on the button, we got a message from our Anti-virus which cut off connection with the website saying that the website is infected with a virus.
PIB Has Declared This Message As Fake
Upon conducting a keyword search with the words “free laptop” “Ministry of Education”, “ Laptop Scheme” on Google, we found a tweet posted by PIB Fact Check on 10th July, 2022 which read ‘A text message with a website link is circulating with a claim that the Government of India is offering free laptops to all students #PIBFactCheck:
▶️The circulated link is #Fake
▶️The government is not running any such scheme’
Newschecker also found a tweet by PIB Fact Check uploaded on 11th July, 2022 along with the caption ‘A text message with a website link is circulating on social media which claims that @EduMinOfIndia is offering 500,000 free laptops to all students #PIBFactCheck
▶️The circulated link is #Fake
▶️The government is not running any such scheme’
The picture in the website resembled the website Newschecker was redirected to after clicking on the link.
Conclusion
Newschecker’s investigation reveals that a message claiming that the Ministry of Education is providing free laptops to students under a Free Laptop Scheme is fake. It exposes the users device to a potential virus attack and asks the user to share the link with as many contacts as possible. Newschecker urges its readers to not click on this link.
Result: False
Our Sources
Self Analysis
Tweet by PIB Fact-Check on 10th July, 2022
Tweet by PIB Fact-Check on 11th July, 2022
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 the form.
Authors
Vaibhav is a part of Newschecker’s English team, where he spots and debunks all kinds of misinformation, making the rounds on the internet. A Journalism graduate from St. Xavier's College, Mumbai, he holds an M.A degree in Philosophy and an M.Phil from Delhi University.
