Fact Check: Images of KBC lottery nomination letter are deceptive
The image is a letter with the header – 'KBC lottery nomination letter'. The text in the letter goes as "Dear customer, you have won the reward 25,00,000 from KBC its programme held in Dubai airport terminal one under the custody of prime minister of UAE Shiekh Mohammed bin Rashid and Amitabh Bacchan
An image claiming to be KBC lottery nomination letter is in circulation on social media, especially on Facebook and Whatsapp. The image contains logos of KBC and Jio. Also, it has pictures of Amitabh Bacchan, host of KBC, Mukesh Ambani, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UAE Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
The image is a letter with the header – 'KBC lottery nomination letter'. The text in the letter goes as "Dear customer, you have won the reward 25,00,000 from KBC its programme held in Dubai airport terminal one under the custody of prime minister of UAE Shiekh Mohammed bin Rashid and Amitabh Bacchan, Mukesh Ambani, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Your number selext in the first category, you need to contact lottery manager rana partab. Only on whatsapp they will transfer your prize amount in your account. You have not purchase any ticket or not participate in any lucky draw. URGENTLY CONTACT HIM regarding kbc and uae.
The WhatsApp number displayed in every post is different and even the lottery numbers also were changed.
The images of the KBC lottery are shared virally on facebook.
The users shared the image highlighting the phone number to contact to get the prize.
Similar images were shared by several users in 2021 also.
https://www.facebook.com/
Fact Check:
The claim of the KBC lottery win is FALSE. There is no such lottery running in India or in UAE. The viral image is a hoax duping people.
When we observed the image properly, we found several spelling mistakes in the letter. Even 'lottery' was misspelt as LOTRI.
As we searched using the keywords KBC lottery/ KBC Lotri, we found a few links warning the users that this is a fraud. Firstly, we found the tweet of the Mumbai police. This tweet was a reply to a user who shared the same image. Their reply was "Don't entertain such Messages & Calls. They may be fraudsters. Request you to report the matter at your nearest police station for necessary action."
Even Cyberabad police alerted the public in their facebook post not to believe about any lotteries like the KBC lottery or Naaptol and lucky draws announced by unknown persons. The police also mentioned of a Hyderabadi woman who lost Rs 39 lakh to cyber fraudsters in the name of the KBC lottery. #CyberFrauds #FakeKBCLottery
https://www.facebook.com/
According to cybercelldelhi.in, when the victim contacts the mentioned number to claim the amount, the fraudster tells him/her that they need to first pay a certain refundable amount towards the processing of the lottery as well as GST, etc. Once the victim deposits that money, they start demanding more on one or the other pretext. The fraudsters insist on communicating only through WhatsApp. They encourage the victim to deposit money in various bank accounts and the entire fraud goes on for several weeks and even months as long as they can convince the victim to deposit money.
After sometime, they start telling the victim that the lottery amount has been increased further to Rs 45 lakh, then to Rs 75 lakh, and so on so as to heighten the interest of the victim and keep him/her engaged. Finally, when the victim starts insisting on payment of the lottery money or refuses to pay more, they stop calling him/her and discontinue the WhatsApp numbers that were used in the fraud.
The safety measures announced by the cyber cell team in Delhi include ignoring messages informing that you have won a lottery or a prize, which in all likelihood, could be a fraud.
A closer look into such deceptive messages will show poor drafting, grammatical errors and other glaring signs that the message is not genuine.
These fraudsters exploit your greed. You forget to take basic precautions such as discussing with the family members, verifying the information through alternate means, etc., as you get blinded by your greed.
During payment of any genuine lottery or prize, the tax component and other charges are cut from the prize money and the winner gets the deducted amount. So ask yourself the question that why have you to pay these charges in advance to get the so-called lottery money. This is because it is a fraud and there is no money that you have won.
If the caller insists on maintaining secrecy, it is a sign that there is something fishy about the entire issue.
http://cybercelldelhi.in/
The PIB fact check also debunked the claim on its Twitter account. The tweet stated that It is being claimed by fraudsters on phone calls, e-mails and messages that the recipient has won a lottery of ₹ 25,00,000. #PIBFactCheck
According to an article in the Times of India, if you get a call or a text from an unknown number telling you that you have won a lucky draw in KBC, do not take it seriously. There have been several instances where fraudsters have made calls through WhatsApp or have sent texts promising people a chance at KBC, congratulating them for winning Rs 25 lakh, and even promising a meeting with Amitabh Bachchan.
Two persons were arrested for allegedly cheating more than 100 people on the pretext of the KBC lottery.
Even after arrests and also warnings from the police cyber cell teams, these messages and images are prevalent on social media and are continuously shared with different phone numbers.
So, the claim that KBC in partnership with Jio, involving PMs of UAE and India, is giving away a lottery amount of 25,00,000 rupees is FALSE. It is a hoax aimed at duping people and extracting money from innocents.