A viral social media post has claimed that investment of Rs 22,000 could yield returns of Rs 5.5 lakh within a week. In the viral video, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is being shown endorsing a high-return investment scheme.

Debunking the viral video , government’s fact-checking arm PIB Fact Check has warned citizens against falling for such misinformation. 

In a post on X, PIB Fact Check said the video, is fake and generated using artificial intelligence.

“A viral video of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman claims to offer Rs 5,50,000 in a week in lieu of an initial investment amount of Rs 22,000. The video is fake and AI generated,” PIB Fact Check said.

It further added that the Government of India nor the Finance Minister is promoting or endorsing any such scheme, and urged people to remain cautious of misleading content circulating online.

“Neither the Government nor the Finance Minister is endorsing any such investment scheme,” it added.

The fact-checking unit also advised citizens to verify such claims through official government sources before taking any financial decisions.

It further appealed to users to report and flag suspicious content to help curb the spread of misinformation.

“Stay vigilant. Verify such claims through official government sources only,” PIB Fact Check said.

How to get messages fact-checked by PIB

If you get any such suspicious message, you can always know its authenticity and check if the news is for real or it is a fake news. For that, you need to send the message to https://factcheck.pib.gov.in. Alternatively you can send a WhatsApp message to +918799711259 for fact check. You can also send your message to pibfactcheck@gmail.com. The fact check information is also available on https://pib.gov.in.