HOAX: This website advertising free 50GB data to celebrate WhatsApp’s anniversary is a scam
The website asks users to forward the link to multiple WhatsApp users but no data is given upon completion of the procedure.
A website promising WhatsApp users 50GB of data as part of the company’s 10th anniversary celebration is a HOAX.
To get the offer from the messaging and voice platform, participants must answer three questions, namely: Do you think WhatsApp is the best platform? Do you suggest WhatsApp to your friends? The final question aks for the age bracket of the visitor.
A user must share the link with five groups, or 20 friends via WhatsApp, the website adds, and this raises suspicion that it could be a phishing scam.
After the process, users are required to install an application which will then be verified by an admin and reviewed within 24 hours.
However, after multiple attempts, no data is given and the application stops working. Instead, users are asked to repeat the procedure.
The claim says that the gift offer is in celebration of WhatsApp’s 10th anniversary, but the messaging and voice app was founded in 2009, meaning it marks 12 years in 2021.
A look at WhatsApp’s social media platforms — Twitter and Facebook — reveals no promotion is being run by the messaging platform.
PesaCheck has looked into a website promising WhatsApp users 50GB of data to celebrate its 10th anniversary and finds it to be a HOAX.
This post is part of an ongoing series of PesaCheck fact-checks examining content marked as potential misinformation on Facebook and other social media platforms.
By partnering with Facebook and similar social media platforms, third-party fact-checking organisations like PesaCheck are helping to sort fact from fiction. We do this by giving the public deeper insight and context to posts they see in their social media feeds.
Have you spotted what you think is fake news or false information on Facebook? Here’s how you can report. And, here’s more information on PesaCheck’s methodology for fact-checking questionable content.
This fact-check was written by PesaCheck fact-checker Pius Enywaru and edited by PesaCheck chief copy editor Rose Lukalo. It was approved for publication by managing editor Enock Nyariki.
PesaCheck is East Africa’s first public finance fact-checking initiative. It was co-founded by Catherine Gicheru and Justin Arenstein, and is being incubated by the continent’s largest civic technology and data journalism accelerator: Code for Africa. It seeks to help the public separate fact from fiction in public pronouncements about the numbers that shape our world, with a special emphasis on pronouncements about public finances that shape government’s delivery of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) public services, such as healthcare, rural development and access to water/sanitation. PesaCheck also tests the accuracy of media reportage. To find out more about the project, visit pesacheck.org.
PesaCheck is an initiative of Code for Africa, through its innovateAFRICA fund, with support from Deutsche Welle Akademie, in partnership with a coalition of local African media and other civic watchdog organisations.
