Fake news on WhatsApp claims Government giving Rs 1000 under Corona SahayataYojana

Fact Check Unit of Press Information Bureau has today clarified in a tweet that Government of India is not giving Rs 1000 to anybody under the so called Corona Sahayata Yojana scheme. This tweet was in response to a widely circulating message on WhatsApp that claimed that Government had launched a scheme-WCHO- under which people were being given Rs 1000 each. The message requires people to click on a link and provide their information.

The tweet clarified that the claim and the link both were fraudulent and warned people against clicking on it.

Background

In order to check the spread of fake news on social media and following observations of the Supreme Court, PIB set up a dedicated unit to bust rumours getting viral on the social media. ‘PIBFactCheck’ is a verified handle on Twitter that continuously monitors trending messages on social media platforms and conducts comprehensive review of its contents to bust fake news. Besides, PIB_India handle and various PIB regional unit handles on Twitter are posting official and authentic version of any item on Twitter using the hashtag #PIBFactCheck for the benefit of the Twitter community at large.

Any person can submit to PIBFactCheck any social media message, including text, audio and video, to verification of its authenticity. These can be submitted online on the portal https://factcheck.pib.gov.in/ or on Whatsapp No. +918799711259 or email: [email protected]. The details are also available on PIB website: https://pib.gov.in