Click here to download the form and get 120 euros per day: it is the joke that runs on WhatsApp and, fortunately, does not contain a virus
At exactly one month after its first appearance, back in Italy a great hoax on WhatsApp: the 120 euro bonus "I stay at home". Thousands of messages have been received and forwarded by as many WhatsApp users who are running this sensational fake news among friends and relatives.
At the base of this recurring fake news is the invitation by the Government to stay at home and limit social contacts to a minimum. According to the unknown hoaxers, the Government would have decided to incentivize citizens who stay at home with a considerable amount of money: 120 euros per day, more than 3,000 euros per month. Già questo dovrebbe lasciar capire che ci troviamo di fronte a una notizia palesemente campata in aria, visto che se tutti gli italiani fossero pagati per restare a casa lo Stato dovrebbe sborsare circa 7 miliardi di euro al giorno, oltre 200 miliardi al mese. Cifre folli, che non stanno né in cielo né in terra e, infatti, lo scopo vero del messaggio non è diffondere una notizia falsa, ma prendere per i fondelli chi abbocca. Il testo del messaggio, infatti, recita: “Lo stato versa a ogni cittadino che resta responsabilmente a casa 120€ al giorno. Il modulo per la richiesta lo trovate qui“. Cosa succede se l’utente clicca qui?
Io resto a casa: il vero scopo della bufala
In molti, per curiosità o perché credevano realmente di trovare un modulo per ricevere 120 euro al mese, hanno “cliccato qui“. The link included in the message leads to an image of a gorilla that looks at the user making the famous gesture of the third finger.
Of this hoax aimed at mocking the gullible there are several variants, with slightly different texts and even lower amounts. From 29 euros per day to go up. But the result is always the same monkey, with the same third finger raised.
Unfortunately no virus
The problem with these chain letters is that even those who know that the message is a hoax very often click on the link, to see what image is on the other side. But clicking on a link received in a message forwarded to thousands of unknown people is exactly what you should not do.
It is as well known as the fact that the State does not give money to stay at home that a link is a great way to take users to virus infested sites or phishing sites. Nothing prohibits, in fact, to package a message identical to this and to put, on the other side of the link, a contact form in which you ask the bank data of the unfortunate with the excuse of paying the famous 120 euros. Data that, in no time at all, will end up in the worst hands.