Beware! These health websites have been declared 'fake' by government
Nowadays, fake websites are becoming an increasingly annoying menace. There are fake websites of almost everything, including banks, universities, job portals, government schemes, etc. While some are harmless, others are used by fraudsters to dupe people. The Health Ministry recently identified 48 fraudulent/fake/misleading health websites circulating false information about the Center's Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PMJAY). Here's all you need to know.
National Health Agency also issued a public advisory
National Health Agency, in charge of implementing PMJAY, recently issued a public advisory identifying fraudulent/fake/misleading websites. It stated, "National Health Agency has come to know that some unscrupulous individuals, agencies, websites, digital media channels, Mobile Apps, job portal websites and organizations are circulating fraudulent information...to register/enroll people as beneficiaries under AB-NHPM/AB-PMJAY,... issue/print Golden records/e-cards..., provide recruitments as Arogya Mitra or some other service/benefit, etc."
There may be more such websites: NHA
Listing the names of misleading health websites in the public advisory, the NHA also stated that these are the websites which have come to its notice so far, adding there may be many more such active websites which are not known to it yet.
List of misleading health websites, as per NHA report
According to NHA, there were 21 active fraudulent/fake/misleading websites. The list includes Deepawali, 7th Pay Commission Info, Pradhan Mantri Scheme, Indiamart, Govt-Yojna, Kikali.in, Gadgets Update Hindi (application), Chsma.in, Bharat-sarkar.co, Sukanya Samriddhi Account Yojana, Gadgets Update Hindi (registration), Apply desk, and Hindi Gurukul. To seem genuine, some websites are named after Ayushman Bharat, including Ayushman Bharat, Ayushmanbharat.net, Ayushmanbhaarat, Ayushmanbharatyojana, Ayushmanyojana, Aayushmanbharat, Ayushmanbharatyojanas, and Modicareinsurancescheme.
Websites that have been closed at NHA's instance
According to NHA, as many as 20 fraudulent/fake/unauthorized websites were closed at the instance of NHA. The list includes: Gov Yojana, Govt-Yojna, Sukanya Samriddhi Account Yojana, PM Jan Dhan Yojana, Sarkari Yojanaye, Namastekisan, Divya Jobs, Sarkari Yojana, Money Bhaskar, Yogi Yojana, Chsma - Get all trending update, Paatashaala, Kya Hai, Mera Pmjay, Ayushmanbharat, Ayushmanbharatyojana, Ayushman-bharat-yojana, Ayushmanbharatscheme, Yogi Yojana, and Mera Pmjay.
Unofficial websites that provide PMJAY information
NHA also listed seven websites that were found spreading information about PMJAY. However, these aren't official websites and may circulate false information, too. They include Government Schemes India, Sarkari Yojnaa, Hindi Gurukul (Ayushman Mitra recruitment), Hindi Gurukul (PMJAY list download), Krcinema, Apply Bharat, and YojanaSchemeHindi.
Though all websites are not malicious, users must be careful
One must be careful while searching for information to avail government schemes like Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna. They must visit only the official website for any details regarding the scheme. They should never submit personal information, contact details, bank account/debit/credit card information, etc. They must not download any documents from such websites as they may contain malware or other dangerous software.
