Fact-check: Viral website offering free laptops is a scam

A message circulating on WhatsApp and social media platforms shares a link to a webpage offering free laptops to students in Pakistan.

The claim is false. The website is fraudulent.

Claim

On June 28, a Facebook page shared a post containing a link to a webpage titled “Free Laptops for Students 2026”.

The webpage asks students to provide their full name, education level and preferred laptop brand.

Fact

The website is not legitimate, according to previous fact checks and Pakistan’s National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA).

Geo Fact Check filled out the form using bogus information. The website then redirected to another page claiming that the application had been approved.

However, before users could proceed, the page instructed them to share the link with multiple WhatsApp contacts or groups. This is a common tactic used by phishing and engagement-bait scams to increase the reach of fraudulent websites.

Facebook also labelled the post containing the website as false information.

Geo Fact Check found previous fact checks in Sri Lanka and Nigeria about the same website, both of which identified it as fraudulent.

The fact checks can be read hereand here.

Separately, Geo Fact Check shared the viral website with the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA), the law enforcement agency responsible for investigating cybercrime in Pakistan.

A spokesperson for the agency said the website exhibited characteristics commonly associated with online phishing scams and advised the public not to submit personal or financial information to unverified websites.

Verdict: The website does not offer a genuine laptop scheme. It is a fraudulent website that uses a fake offer to collect users’ information and encourage them to share the link with others.

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