Government is NOT giving ₹ 5000 to ones who have taken COVID-19 vaccine

PIB Health has clarified to us that the viral message is Fake. The viral message is actually a clickbait link.

President Draupadi Murmu addressed the nation on the occasion of the 75^th Independence Day. On the eve of Independence Day, she talked about India’s vibrant democracy, success story of Covid vaccines, Atmanirbhar Bharat and the growth of the country’s economy after the pandemic. 

Amidst this, a viral message on social media claimed that the PM Family Welfare department is offering ₹ 5000 as a reward to those who have taken the Covid-19 vaccine. The message states that only the those who have taken the vaccine is eligible for this reward and the reward is valid only till 30 August 2022. The message also includes a link to a form that every individual needs to fill before claiming the reward amount. 

We received this message for verification on our WhatsApp Fact-line Number 9049053770.

The message states, “An important notice- Those who got the Covid vaccine is now eligible to get ₹ 5000 from the Prime Minister’s family welfare department. If you have taken the Covid vaccine, then fill the form now and get ₹ 5000. This is the form link- https://pm-yojna.in/5000rs please Note – Amount of Rs.5000 will be available only till 30 August 2022!”

The Hindi caption: “एक आवश्यक सूचना- जिन्होंने वैक्सीन लगा लिया उन्हें 5000 रु प्रधानमंत्री जन कल्याण विभाग द्वारा दिया जा रहा है, आपने भी कोरोना का वैक्सीन लगा लिया है तो अभी फॉर्म भरें और 5000 रू प्राप्त करें इस लिंक से फॉर्म भरें:  https://pm-yojna.in/5000rs  कृपया ध्यान दें- 5000 रु की राशि सिर्फ 30 अगस्त 2022 तक ही मिलेगा!”

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Fact Check- 

We started our investigation by running a relevant keyword search on Google to find news reports. However, we could not find any relevant report or any information on the official website of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Next Fact Crescendo spoke with Dr. Manisha Verma who is the ADG (Media & Communications) of PIB Health. She confirmed to us that the viral message is fake. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is not giving rewards to the ones of who have taken Covid-19 vaccine. We request you to ignore such messages.

We found that PIB Fact Check has also issued a clarification of the same. They mentioned, “In a viral message, it is being claimed that those who have got the Kovid vaccine are being provided ₹ 5,000 by the Prime Minister’s Public Welfare Department after filling an online form. #PIBFactcheck : The claim of this message is fake. Please do not forward this fake message.”

Next, we clicked on the link of the form that is attached with the viral message. We found that it is actually a clickbait link, which asks users for their personal information and asks the users to forward the same viral message to five different users on WhatsApp. Later, it link redirects to Google Play Store to download apps. 

Next, we ran a keyword search on Google to find the guidelines for the Indian government website. The website states, “In compliance to the Government’s Domain Name Policy, all Indian Government websites MUST use ‘gov.in’ or ‘nic.in’ domain exclusively allotted and restricted to Government websites. The military institutions and organisations in India may also use ‘mil.in’ domain in place of or in addition to the gov.in/.nic.”

Conclusion- 

Fact Crescendo found that the viral message is Fake. The PM Family Welfare department is not offering ₹ 5000 as a reward to those who have taken the Covid-19 vaccine. The viral link is a clickbait that collects personal information and later can misuse it.