Fact Check: Oppo Anniversary Viral Survey Link Is Fake, Cyber Security Expert Advises Against Clicking On Such Suspicious Links
This viral claim about Oppo’s 22nd anniversary is fake. The post is a scam and users should not click on the link. Cyber security experts recommend not to click on suspicious links.
- By Vishvas News
- Updated: September 1, 2022
New Delhi (Vishvas News): A post is going viral on social media, which states that mobile company Oppo is conducting a survey to mark its 22nd anniversary and is giving people a chance to win free phones. Vishvas News in its investigation found that this link redirects to a suspicious website. This claim is fake. The post is a scam and users should not click on the link.
What’s in the viral post?
The post shared on WhatsApp reads: “OPPO’s 22nd Anniversary Win Free Oppo Phone Click blue line to win https://phd.growlearning.n/ (We advise our users not to click on any suspicious links) Huh).
Investigation
Vishvas News started the investigation by checking the link given in the message. The URL of the link does not belong to the Oppo website. We did not click on this link for security reasons.
On searching about the Oppo company, we came to know that this company was launched in China in 2004. That means it can not be Oppo’s 22nd anniversary in 2022.
Vishvas News contacted Oppo’s Media Relations Department. We were told “The viral post is a scam and the user should not click on any such suspicious links.”
We contacted Ayush Bhardwaj, cyber security expert and former IT advisor to the Public Grievances Committee, Government of Rajasthan, for more details on the subject. He said “Any user should first go through the message and the accompanying URL properly. The easiest way to hack someone is by sending malicious links with lucrative offers. This is a type of social engineering where users are instigated by lucrative offers to click on links containing viruses. After this, the virus is installed in the user’s mobile and they can be cheated. Keep these points in mind to keep yourself safe from such scams:
• Never click on an unknown link
• Keep your browser updated
• Never click on short URLs or links with attractive offers
• Always have two-way authentication enabled on your WhatsApp and social media accounts.
• Do not click on any links in messages from unknown senders.”
Vishvas News also checked the official website of Oppo and found that the viral link is not from the official website. We could not find any post regarding any such survey on the official website or on any of its social media handles.
This post was shared on Facebook by a user named Shiva Singh. According to the profile, the user has 1500 Facebook friends.
Conclusion: This viral claim about Oppo’s 22nd anniversary is fake. The post is a scam and users should not click on the link. Cyber security experts recommend not to click on suspicious links.