RaGa’s fake 3-month free recharge creates buzz on social media

Hyderabad: With the Congress winning the Legislative Assembly election held in Telangana recently, several people are receiving a message on their WhatsApp and has been shared widely since then on social media claiming that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has announced a ‘3-month free mobile recharge’ offer to all. People have been complaining about getting such unwanted messages on WhatsApp opening which leads to a website asking for the personal details.

The results came out on Sunday, since then people are receiving the messages on their social media apps like WhatsApp and people are trying to utilize the opportunity to recharge their phone for three months. The message was received from several spam numbers to the users and it was widely forwarded. Moreover, several users on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) also posted the same.

The post shared a URL link and asked users to click on the website to avail of the free recharge offer announced by Rahul Gandhi. A few social media posts alleged that the Indian National Congress has announced ‘Free Recharge Yojana’ to attract voters for Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections.

Divya Khatri, a resident of Khairtabad received a message on WhatsApp with a spam number which claims to give free recharge. “I received a message on my WhatsApp which says to give three months free recharge. The free recharge is provided by the Rahul Gandhi with a last date to avail the facility by December 15.”

The message reads “Rahul Gandhi is giving 3 Months Free recharge to all Indian users so that more and more people can vote for Congress in the 2024 elections and Congress government can be formed again.

Click on the link given below to get 3 months free recharge. (Last Date – 15 December 2023) https://www.inc.in@congress2024.limitedoffer-XyZ. Some people also received the same message with a different link https://www.inc.in/.

Clicking on the link takes to the web page which asks the users to fill in the details provided, while another link directly opens the Indian National Congress website.

Asif Hussain Sohail, an activist said that the party authorities and police must act on such spam messages and posts, this is directly a trap and a Cybercrime. Police should be involved and take serious action. “We have a strong Cybercrime authority in the state which can detect spams and can restrict such posts. Police should take steps and create awareness among people not to be involved in such cybercrime and restrict such messages.” The WhatsApp forward is a fake, and people were advised not to click on the link.

As per news reports, Rahul Gandhi had not made any such announcement of free mobile recharge for citizens and had not found any such announcement on the official social media handles and the official website of Rahul Gandhi and INC too did not make any announcements offering free mobile recharges to citizens.