Government Warns Citizens About Scams Of Free Laptops Under “Make in India”

In WhatsApp groups and on social media, there has been fake viral news spreading around about how PM Narendra Modi, under an initiative called “Make in India”, has introduced a free laptop scheme. Included in these messages are links to fraud websites created to scam people, saying that free laptops are being handed around to celebrate the victory of BJP in the recent elections. The websites are:  'www.modi-laptop.wish-karo-yar.tk', 'http://modi-laptop.sarkaari-yojana.in' and 'http://modi-laptop.wishguruji.com'.

The government has officially confirmed there is no scheme called “Make in India” and all relevant messages/websites are scams. An FIR was registered under the 66D IT Act.

After investigating, Rakesh Jangid from Nagaur, Rajasthan has been arrested. The accused was actually an alumnus of IIT Kanpur for the 2019 post-graduate batch. He, along with his brother, is said to have created the site to make web advertising revenue. The police are carrying out further investigations.

As for these scamming websites, it seems like the 'https no laptop://modi-laptop.wishguruji.com' has been taken down while the site 'modilaptop.sarkaari-yojana.in website' is still there. On the site, there is a banner claiming that 2 crore youth can get free laptops from the government. To get a free laptop, users are asked to share their personal information from name, mobile number, to age and state. Under the submit button, there is a photograph of PM. At the moment, the page says “Registration Closed” but still accepting names as well as other details. The site links to another page asking people to share this scheme’s details to 10 WhatsApp groups. And according to the page, this sharing step is mandatory if users want to receive a registration number for taking part in the scheme.

Another similar fake site called 'http://solor-panel.sarkaari-yojana.in' is claiming people can get free solar panels under the Solar Panel scheme of PM.