A more than 5 year old Hoax with small changes is making rounds again. An allegedly threatening message with “Amit Shah disowns Modi” is viral on WhatsApp. A WhatsApp forward is increasingly being forwarded on the app asking people to not accept any video called “Amit Shah disowns Modi” along with claims that the video contains a virus that could format your phone. It also asks people to block a number with claims that it belongs to credit card hackers. The screenshot of  message being forwarded is as follows:

“Pls inform to all the contacts on your list not to accept a video called the “Amit Shah disowns Modi” It is a virus that formats your mobile. It is very dangerous. They announced it on the radio today. Fwd this MSG to as many as you can.
High alert

Pls block this no  9266600223

They are credit/debit card hackers. Pls inform all your near and dear ones.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pls block this no

*9266600223*

They are credit/debit card hackers. Pls inform all your near and dear ones.
Is this a correct massage,it's move on whatsapp.

— chandan pratap singh (@chandan35222388) June 4, 2020

Pls inform to all the contacts on your list not to accept a video called the "Amit Shah disowns Modi" It is a virus that formats your mobile. It is very dangerous. They announced it on the radio today. Pls block this no 9266600223.
They are credit/debit card hackers.

— Arjun M Nair (@ArjunMNair15) June 6, 2020

 

 

 

Truth

WhatsApp forwards have previously circulated similar messages under the titles, “Sonia disowns Rahul” and “Dance of the Pope”. Both the messages were similarly framed and instructed people to not download the said videos.

 

Source

This message is false and the reasons are as follows:

• It follows the same patterns as usual spam messages asking the said individual to forward the message to as many people as possible.
• When searched for the video on Google, “Amit Shah disowns Mod”, the results mostly direct you to websites that have debunked the message with claims that it is false.
• It is not possible for a video to carry a malware that could possible format your entire phone. Media files can’t harm, it needs self executable files for e.g. a malware installed on your phone “*.apk” can harm.
• The message is self-defeating in its purpose due to which the second part of the message can be termed false.
• The virus being claimed would have to be a very intricately and complicatedly designed one, for it needs to adapt to different kinds of software depending on the phone it intends to format such as Android, iOS, etc.
• As usual spam messages, the formatting of the text itself is very questionable with short forms such as, “Fwd” and “MSG” being used to propagate the announcement.
• When the number listed in the message, “9266600223”, is run through Truecaller, showed the following results:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The number is listed under “Crd Cardit Card”. It indicates that the number has been classified as “spam” based on 47824 reports. Further details obtained include the number is an Airtel number operating out of Delhi, India.