Tata is not giving any recharge for free after Tata IPL 2022 results. It’s a WhatsApp Telemarketing Scam.
A message is viral on WhatsApp claiming Tata is giving out Rs. 599 recharge for three months for free in a celebration of Gujarat Titans’ victory in Tatat IPL 2022.
Following is the screenshot of the viral message
Text – “Tata IPL ऑफर Gujarat Titans को फाइनल जितने की ख़ुशी में टाटा दे रहा है सभी भारतीय यूजर को 599 का 3 महीने वाला रिचार्ज फ्री में देने का वादा किया है तो अभी निचे नीले रंग की लिंक पर क्लिक करके अपने नंबर पर रिचार्ज करे।https://*mahacashback*.*online”
This is real yeah fake?
Tata IPLऑफर Gujarat Titans को फाइनल जितने की ख़ुशी में *टाटा* दे रहा है सभी भारतीय यूजर को 599 का 3 महीने वाला रिचार्ज फ्री में देने का वादा किया है तो अभी निचे नीले रंग की लिंक पर क्लिक करके अपने नंबर पर रिचार्ज करे।https://t.co/6opkqI1oOn@PIBFactCheck pic.twitter.com/R5LV4Lay4L— Tusharrajchauhan (@heyy_tishuuu) May 30, 2022
Analysis
This is a Telemarketing Scam which uses WhatsApp as the primary medium.
These are WhatsApp scams i.e. the only medium these spread on and use is WhatsApp medium, not on FB, Twitter etc.
These scams earns from two methods
1. Since offers doesn’t ask people to pay up, being free, they think of giving it a try so they fill the form, submit and share in other WhatsApp groups as this scam asks. Further in other groups, others also give it a try which results in lakhs of registration on the site.
So the owner of website gets a database of lakhs of mobile numbers which he\she sells for tele-marketing and you start receiving such calls.
2. Advertisement on their page which gets lakhs of visits in short period through which also owner of the page/site earns a lot.
What can you do ?
Following are the points to recognize these scams
1. The URL/website is never official or simple. Government websites end by “.gov”. Many offers come in the name of a online mall like Amazon, Flipkart or brands like Nike, Xiaomi etc, but none have link to their official websites but to long complicated URL with many characters.
2. After filling out your information and submitting, these sites ask you to share in 8-10 other WhatsApp groups. This leads to many 100s of groups and lakhs of members giving out their mobile numbers
3. These have advertisements banners on their page (not in this particular viral message though)
4. Either they do not have links to other pages of site or doesn’t work for e.g. About Us, Privacy etc.
5. 
a. That is not a checkbox with option to check or uncheck, it’s just a fixed image
b. All these Likes, Comments, Shares are fake, part of image, no like to see
c. all these images and comments are fake too.
All they want is your mobile number which can be misused/sold to Telemarketers and you’ll start receiving phone calls offering Loans, Insurance etc.
Bharuch Police have also denied this –
TATA IPL ફ્રી રિચાર્જ ના નામથી ફરી રહેલ લિંકથી સાવધાન..
આવા ઓનલાઇન ઠગોથી સાવધાન રહેવા ભરૂચ સાયબર ક્રાઈમ પોલીસ દ્વારા જાહેર જનતાને અપીલ કરવામાં આવે છે. pic.twitter.com/0TyGMrnQG9— SP Bharuch (@BharuchPolice) May 30, 2022
Previous such Scams debunked –
Another WhatsApp Scam. PM is not giving away laptops for free
Yet another WhatsApp scam, this time in the name of free t-shirt from Reliance Jio
It’s a TeleMarketing Scam. You can’t extend JIO offer with this.
A WhatsApp Scam back again, misusing photo of our PM as usual.
- Congressmen are using an edited image explaining why Rahul Gandhi will become PM. - January 19, 2023
- A North Eastern cultural dress worn by PM Modi is being claimed as a Ladies’ dress which is digitally edited. - December 22, 2022
- An aerial photo of a Thailand Highway is being used by BJP leaders claimed as Mumbai Nagpur Samruddhi Expressway - December 9, 2022
