A viral WhatsApp message claiming India Post is offering a “Diwali subsidy” of up to Rs 30,000 is fake. Fact-checks show the shared link is fraudulent, not linked to India Post, which has also warned against such scams in the past.
Thiruvananthapuram: A message claiming that the Indian Postal Department is offering a “Diwali subsidy” to all citizens is currently going viral on social media platforms, including WhatsApp. The message, written in Malayalam, includes a link and claims that people can win up to Rs 30,000 by completing a short questionnaire supposedly issued by India Post. When users click on the link circulating on social media under the name of India Post, a webpage opens with a message that reads: “Congratulations! India Post Diwali Subsidies. By completing the questionnaire, you have a chance to win Rs 30,000.” The site prompts visitors to answer four questions to claim the supposed reward. To make the page appear genuine, several comments allegedly from winners are displayed below. However, while the comments are written in Malayalam, most of the names shown are not typical Malayali names, raising doubts about the website’s authenticity.
Image: Screenshot of the website accessed by clicking the link
How Did We Fact Check?
First, we checked if the postal department is offering any such subsidy or prize money for Diwali. We checked India Post’s website and official X handle, but could not find any information about a Diwali subsidy. A keyword search also did not yield any authentic news about the postal department’s Diwali offer.
Image: URL check result
With this, the link shared with the message on WhatsApp was subjected to a check. This check revealed that the link has no connection with India Post and that a fake link is being circulated. The URL, starting with https://njgu.top/, is clearly not related to government websites at a glance. The URL check also confirmed that this URL is suspicious. The official website address of the postal department is https://www.indiapost.gov.in/.
Image: India Post’s official website, note the URL address…
Moreover, the investigation revealed that fake campaigns regarding subsidies in the name of the postal department have existed not just for this Diwali, but also in the past. The postal department has issued warnings to the public about this several times before. The warning messages issued by the Postal Department and the Press Information Bureau in 2022 can be seen below. All these facts prove that the WhatsApp message currently being forwarded is fake.
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Hence, the WhatsApp message claiming that the postal department is giving a Diwali subsidy to all citizens, through which one can win up to ₹30,000, is fake. The circulating link has no connection with the postal department.