Whatsapp message saying BSNL and Airtel are now giving free 4G like Reliance Jio is a scam – Beware!

Stay away from free BSNL, Airtel and Vodafone offer messages on Whatsapp!

Since the launch of Reliance Jio in the country, all other telecom operators are having a tough time retaining their user base. More and more people are queuing up for Reliance Jio SIM cards and now that the network has stabilised, speeds improved and call drop rates reduced, the service provider is on an all time high. However, for all other telecos, the fight is still on and they’re trying their best to match up to Reliance Jio offers. While it is not really possible for all telecom operators to go “free”, they definitely are making an effort and slashing rates to atleast match the prices announced by Jio during their initial offering and the rates that will be applicable once the now valid Happy New Year offer expires. But then for other telecom operators, the race has intensified and they are trying their best to match up to Jio’s pricing with slashed rates.

Each day, we see a new offer come up by Reliance Jio competitors and the offers don’t end. And hence, it is not really difficult to believe a Whatsapp forward that claims to let users avail a new offer where BSNL or Airtel are offering their 4G services for free too. However, unfortunately, it is a spam link that is redirecting users to a fake website. The users, once landing on the website, are asked to choose their telecom circle and they are informed that the schemes would be shown to them accordingly. The next step is entering the data where in user credentials are required. Once these are added, the user is also asked to forward the message to 8 other Whatsapp friends so that their pack can be activated and also so that the friends can avail the offer. However, the user never gets the pack or the offer and is instead fooled into giving away all data and credentials.

While initially, there were reports of scamsters targeting only Airtel users with these schemes, looks like even BSNL users are falling prey to this new offer. However, Airtel had warned users long back that while they would slash prices and offer competitive rates, they would never offer anything completely free. BSNL, which has been trying to compete against Reliance Jio seems to be the latest target for these scamsters. The scammers have also created a pretty genuine looking website with a similar layout and the logo to fool people. However, instead of the home page, it is the credentials page the user lands on. Also, all the details and the text given on the site is full of errors. There are a lot of spam adds surrounding the page too. The entire layout is distorted and although similar to the main website, there are a lot of errors that can be spotted by a regular user.  No Airtel users, you’re not getting free calling. Or free anything. Ever.

The exact text of the spam message says: BSNL 4G ExPress SIM Launched. With every 4G ExPress SIM you get unlimited data and calls for 1 year, with additional freebies.  BSNL 4G ExPress SIM features : Unlimited 4G Internet, unlimited calls, unlimited SMS,  4G internet speed upto 10 Mbps and free SIM card. Get your FREE BSNL 4G ExPress SIM Card Today. Offer is valid till 31st Dec, 2016. Register Now : http://bsnI.co/express. If you have received such a message, do not click on it and also, do not forward it to any of your friends and family. Additionally, inform all your friends that the message is spam so they do not give away their credentials and end up losing important data and also security. It can be dangerous and the information can be misused. Beware!