#FactCheck- Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Price Hike

Introduction

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There has been a recent surge of misinformation all over social media, claiming that every Indian ought to receive an allowance of ₹2,000 under some "Prime Minister's scheme." The message, which has been circulated far and wide on almost all platforms-WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram, etc.-has urged users to click on an unfamiliar link to claim the allowance in their bank accounts.

It would seem like a very attractive offer, especially at a time when common citizens are coping with rising costs of living. But upon further examination, it turns out to be an outright online scam. NewsMobile fact-checked the claim and confirmed that no such scheme exists. Thus, the message circulating is a scam that aims to mislead common citizens.

Such an incident is not isolated. Over the years, fraudulent posts falsely offering benefits in the name of the government or well-known brands have been on the rise. These scams are not just about misinformation-they take advantage of trust, lure people into clicking, and sharing personal info that poses serious risks to financial and personal security.

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Anatomy of the Viral PM Scheme Scam

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The viral message received attention and was written in Hindi. It read:

“सभी नागरिकों को PM योजना के तहत दो हज़ार रुपए का भत्ता प्रदान किया गया है अपने bank खाते में प्राप्त करने के लिए click करें."

(English: “All citizens have been provided an allowance of ₹2000 under the PM scheme. Click to receive it in your bank account.”)

Beneath this was an odd link that, upon clicking through investigation, turned out to be not working and invalid. An examination of government sites, official handle accounts, and other such was done and no announcement for any such allowance was found.

This provides a neat explanation of a phishing attempt by which a scammer induces urgency and temptation in order to lure citizens into clicking a malicious link. While the link may no longer be active, it could very well have once redirected users to websites that harvest personal information such as Aadhaar numbers, bank details, or login credentials.

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The Broader Problem: Fake Government Scheme Scams

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Some scams have been exploiting the hoax gimmick of the ₹2,000 PM scheme into the wider trend. How do the con men work? They leverage the credibility of governmental initiatives to scam citizens. In the past, fake promises were made concerning free gas cylinders, cash allowances, subsidised rations, or even job opportunities. 

During the COVID times, for instance, fake vaccination registration links and so-called relief scheme offers went viral, preying on the fears and vulnerabilities of ill-informed citizens. Likewise, false schemes associated with reputed companies such as Amazon, Flipkart, TATA Group, and Hermès have also gone viral, promising free gifts or allowances. 

The one thing that makes scams associated with the government very dangerous is the exploitation of people's trust in authority. The common citizen is predisposed to believe the PM scheme or the Government Yojana because of the social credibility accorded to these announcements.

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How These Scams Operate

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These are scams where the creators intend deception and in the end, gain from defrauding a person. Fraudsters first create clickbait messages that are duly recorded to resemble official communications and often bear the government logos and bear a mix of Hindi-English text with the phrase "Pradhan Mantri Yojana" to make it sound legitimate. The messages then redirect users to bogus websites that really look very much like the government's portals, asking sick persons to enter personal information. Finally, as soon as they have obtained this data, the scammer uses it for identity theft, bank fraud, or sells it on the dark web. Social engineering does play a large role in these scams: here terms of urgency like limited time, last chance, and whatnot get created with the aim of pushing the targets to act on these without thinking. For maximum reach, victims are also asked to forward the message to their friends and family, causing the scammer to go viral across WhatsApp, Facebook, and Telegram.

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Risks to Citizens

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Risks are serious and manifold to falling prey to these scams. The immediate kind of risk is financial loss: divulging bank account details, an OTP, or credentials may constitute providing attackers the power to drain funds therefrom. Another prevalent kind of identity theft occurs through hijacked Aadhaar, PAN, or personal information that subsequently finds its way into fake loans or SIM activations. Apart from monetary losses, opening malicious links might also make devices infected with spyware or ransomware, thereby invading privacy and security. Victims tend to experience a form of psychological trauma due to feelings of betrayal or humiliation of being deceived, thus discouraging them from reporting, which in turn enables such scams to go undetected.

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Best Practices for Prevention

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It is prudent to exercise good cyber hygiene and be on the lookout for such scams. The citizens should verify each statement against government-authorised websites like https://www.mygov.in or through press statements of the ministries prior to believing it. One should not click on suspicious links offering money, gifts, or subsidies. Red flags like poor grammar, an unofficial domain name, or too-good-to-be-true offers can enable one to identify the scam in time. Two-factor authentication, antivirus software updates, and securing devices can drastically lower the threat from the technical angle. Equally important is the reporting of issues: always report any suspicious activities to cybercrime.gov.in or to the nearest cyber cell so that the authorities may trace some pattern and issue advisories accordingly. Finally, one can do some good by sharing verified fact checks within their circles to build added strength against misinformation and scams.

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Policy and Community Role

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While individual awareness is important, collective action must be taken against these fake government scheme scams. Platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and X (Twitter) must tune up fraudsters' message detection mechanisms. In the meantime, Government Bodies must alert citizens periodically on new scams through their official handles/schemes and through community outreach. 

Civil society and fact-checking agencies play an important role in dispelling frequently viral hoaxes. This work must be amplified to reach people's consciousness in regional languages for the very reason that in these terrain zones, forwarded messages are much more trusted.

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Conclusion

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The viral ₹2,000 PM scheme scam is a reminder that everything that is viral online cannot be trusted in toto. The scammers of the day are inventing newer scams to gain trust, spread misinformation, and extort innocent citizens.

The best defence will be awareness and alertness. Citizens must verify any claims through official channels before clicking on a link, sharing their data, or even acting upon it in any way. With proper cyber hygiene and avoiding suspicious messages, we can counterattack by reducing the percentage of impact that these scams may have and collaboratively build a secure digital environment. 

As India pushes itself further into a digital ecosystem, both empowering and being resilient to cyber fraud is not a state of individual security, but a national agenda.

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References

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• https://www.newsmobile.in/nm-fact-checker/fact-check-viral-post-claiming-pm-scheme-offering-rs-2000-allowance-is-a-scam/
• https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/financial-literacy/investing/beware-of-deepfake-scams-fraudsters-using-ai-videos-to-push-schemes-promising-unrealistic-returns-red-flags-to-watch-out-for/articleshow/124085155.cms
• https://www.business-standard.com/finance/personal-finance/invest-rs-21-000-to-earn-rs-20-lakh-monthly-viral-videos-of-fm-are-fake-125082000517_1.html
• https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2124728

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Executive Summary:

Viral pictures featuring US Secret Service agents smiling while protecting former President Donald Trump during a planned attempt to kill him in Pittsburgh have been clarified as photoshopped pictures. The pictures making the rounds on social media were produced by AI-manipulated tools. The original image shows no smiling agents found on several websites. The event happened with Thomas Mathew Crooks firing bullets at Trump at an event in Butler, PA on July 13, 2024. During the incident one was deceased and two were critically injured. The Secret Service stopped the shooter, and circulating photos in which smiles were faked have stirred up suspicion. The verification of the face-manipulated image was debunked by the CyberPeace Research Team.

Claims:

Viral photos allegedly show United States Secret Service agents smiling while rushing to protect former President Donald Trump during an attempted assassination in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Fact Check:

Upon receiving the posts, we searched for any credible source that supports the claim made, we found several articles and images of the incident but in those the images were different. 

This image was published by CNN news media, in this image we can see the US Secret Service protecting Donald Trump but not smiling. We then checked for AI Manipulation in the image using the AI Image Detection tool, True Media.

We then checked with another AI Image detection tool named, contentatscale AI image detection, which also found it to be AI Manipulated.

Comparison of both photos:

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Hence, upon lack of credible sources and detection of AI Manipulation concluded that the image is fake and misleading.

Conclusion:

The viral photos claiming to show Secret Service agents smiling when protecting former President Donald Trump during an assassination attempt have been proven to be digitally manipulated. The original image found on CNN Media shows no agents smiling. The spread of these altered photos resulted in misinformation. The CyberPeace Research Team's investigation and comparison of the original and manipulated images confirm that the viral claims are false.

• Claim: Viral photos allegedly show United States Secret Service agents smiling while rushing to protect former President Donald Trump during an attempted assassination in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• Claimed on: X, Thread
• Fact Check: Fake & Misleading

Executive Summary:

In the recent advisory the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has released a high severity warning in the older versions of the software across Apple devices. This high severity rating is because of the multiple vulnerabilities reported in Apple products which could allow the attacker to unfold the sensitive information, and execute arbitrary code on the targeted system. This warning is extremely useful to remind of the necessity to have the software up to date to prevent threats of a cybernature. It is important to update the software to the latest versions and cyber hygiene practices.

Devices Affected:

CERT-In advisory highlights significant risks associated with outdated software on the following Apple devices:

• iPhones and iPads: iOS versions that are below 18 and the 17.7 release.
• Mac Computers: All macOS builds before 14.7 (20G71), 13.7 (20H34), and  earlier 20.2 for Sonoma, Ventura, Sequoia, respectively.
• Apple Watches: watchOS versions prior to 11
• Apple TVs: tvOS versions prior to 18
• Safari Browsers: versions prior to 18
• Xcode: versions prior to 16
• visionOS: versions prior to 2

Details of the Vulnerabilities:

The vulnerabilities discovered in these Apple products could potentially allow attackers to perform the following malicious activities:

1. Access sensitive information: The attackers could easily access the sensitive information stored in other parts of the violated gadgets.
2. Execute arbitrary code: The web page could be compromised with malcode and run on the targeted system which in the worst scenario would give the intruder full Administrator privileges on the device.
3. Bypass security restrictions: Measures agreed to safeguard the device and information contained on it may be easily bypassed and the system left open to more proliferation.
4. Cause denial-of-service (DoS) attacks: The vulnerabilities could be used to cause the targeted device or service to be unavailable to the rightful users.
5. Perform spoofing attacks: There could be a situation where the attackers created fake entities or users or accounts to have a way into important information or do other unauthorized activities.
6. Elevate privileges: It is also stated that weaknesses might be exploited to authorize the attacker a higher level of privileges in the system they are targets.
7. Engage in cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks: Some of them make the associated Web applications/sites prone to XSS attacks by injecting hostile scripts into Web page code.

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Vulnerabilities:

CVE-2023-42824

• Attack vector could allow a local attacker to elevate their privileges and potentially execute arbitrary code.

Affected System

• Apple's iOS and iPadOS software

CVE-2023-42916

• To improve the out of bounds read it was mitigated with improved input validation which was resolved later.

Affected System

• Safari, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and Apple Watch Series 4 and later devices running watchOS 10.2

CVE-2023-42917

• leads to arbitrary code execution, and there have been reports of it being exploited in earlier versions of iOS.

Affected System

• Apple's Safari browser, iOS, iPadOS, and macOS Sonoma systems

Recommended Actions for Users:

To mitigate these risks, that users take immediate action:

• Update Software: Ensure all your devices are on the most current version of the operating systems they use. Repetitive updates have important security updates that fix identified weaknesses or flaws within the system.
• Monitor Device Activity: Stay vigilant if something doesn’t seem right; if your gadgets are accessed by someone who isn’t you.
• Always use strong, distinct passwords and use two-factor authentication.
• Install and update the antivirus and Firewall softwares.
• Avoid downloading any applications or clicking   link from unknown sources 

Conclusion:

The advisory from CERT-In, clearly demonstrates the fundamental need of keeping the software on all Apple devices up to date. Consumers need to act right away to patch their devices and apply best security measures like using multiple factors for login and system scanning.  This advisory has come out when Apple has just released new products into the market such as the iPhone 16 series in India. When consumers embrace new technologies it is important for them to observe relevant measures of security precautions. Maintaining good cyber hygiene is a critical process for the protection against new threats.

Reference:

• https://www.cert-in.org.in/s2cMainServlet?pageid=PUBVLNOTES02&VLCODE=CIAD-2023-0043
• https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-42916
• https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2023-42917
• https://www.bizzbuzz.news/technology/gadjets/cert-in-issues-advisory-on-vulnerabilities-affecting-iphones-ipads-and-macs-1337253#google_vignette
• https://www.wionews.com/videos/india-warns-apple-users-of-high-severity-security-risks-in-older-software-761396

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