#FactCheck: Beware of Fake Emails Distributing Fraudulent e-PAN Cards
Executive Summary:
We have identified a post addressing a scam email that falsely claims to offer a download link for an e-PAN Card. This deceptive email is designed to mislead recipients into disclosing sensitive financial information by impersonating official communication from Income Tax Department authorities. Our report aims to raise awareness about this fraudulent scheme and emphasize the importance of safeguarding personal data against such cyber threats.
Claim:
Scammers are sending fake emails, asking people to download their e-PAN cards. These emails pretend to be from government authorities like the Income Tax Department and contain harmful links that can steal personal information or infect devices with malware.
Fact Check:
Through our research, we have found that scammers are sending fake emails, posing as the Income Tax Department, to trick users into downloading e-PAN cards from unofficial links. These emails contain malicious links that can lead to phishing attacks or malware infections. Genuine e-PAN services are only available through official platforms such as the Income Tax Department's website (www.incometaxindia.gov.in) and the NSDL/UTIITSL portals. Despite repeated warnings, many individuals still fall victim to such scams. To combat this, the Income Tax Department has a dedicated page for reporting phishing attempts: Report Phishing - Income Tax India. It is crucial for users to stay cautious, verify email authenticity, and avoid clicking on suspicious links to protect their personal information.
Conclusion:
The emails currently in circulation claiming to provide e-PAN card downloads are fraudulent and should not be trusted. These deceptive messages often impersonate government authorities and contain malicious links that can result in identity theft or financial fraud. Clicking on such links may compromise sensitive personal information, putting individuals at serious risk. To ensure security, users are strongly advised to verify any such communication directly through official government websites and avoid engaging with unverified sources. Additionally, any phishing attempts should be reported to the Income Tax Department and also to the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal to help prevent the spread of such scams. Staying vigilant and exercising caution when handling unsolicited emails is crucial in safeguarding personal and financial data.
- Claim: Fake emails claim to offer e-PAN card downloads.
- Claimed On: Social Media
- Fact Check: False and Misleading
Related Blogs
Executive Summary:
A video gone viral on Facebook claims Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman endorsed the government’s new investment project. The video has been widely shared. However, our research indicates that the video has been AI altered and is being used to spread misinformation.
Claim:
The claim in this video suggests that Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is endorsing an automotive system that promises daily earnings of ₹15,00,000 with an initial investment of ₹21,000.
Fact Check:
To check the genuineness of the claim, we used the keyword search for “Nirmala Sitharaman investment program” but we haven’t found any investment related scheme. We observed that the lip movements appeared unnatural and did not align perfectly with the speech, leading us to suspect that the video may have been AI-manipulated.
When we reverse searched the video which led us to this DD News live-stream of Sitharaman’s press conference after presenting the Union Budget on February 1, 2025. Sitharaman never mentioned any investment or trading platform during the press conference, showing that the viral video was digitally altered. Technical analysis using Hive moderator further found that the viral clip is Manipulated by voice cloning.
Conclusion:
The viral video on social media shows Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman endorsing the government’s new investment project as completely voice cloned, manipulated and false. This highlights the risk of online manipulation, making it crucial to verify news with credible sources before sharing it. With the growing risk of AI-generated misinformation, promoting media literacy is essential in the fight against false information.
- Claim: Fake video falsely claims FM Nirmala Sitharaman endorsed an investment scheme.
- Claimed On: Social Media
- Fact Check: False and Misleading
Introduction
Did you know that millions of workers today earn their livelihood through digital platforms such as Uber, Lyft, Deliveroo, Amazon Flex, Swiggy, and Zomato? The gig economy refers to a labour market in which individuals earn income through short term, temporary, task based, or freelance work arrangements rather than traditional long term employment. Most gig work is facilitated through digital platforms such as Uber, Lyft, Deliveroo, Amazon Flex, Swiggy, and Upwork, which connect workers directly with customers seeking specific services. While the gig economy has created unprecedented opportunities for flexible work, it has also exposed workers to challenges such as insecure employment, lack of social security, unfair pay, and algorithmic control. To address these concerns, the International Labour Organization adopted Convention No. 193, the world's first binding international treaty dedicated to platform workers. The Convention marks a significant step towards ensuring decent work in the digital age and is expected to guide nations in building stronger legal and social protection frameworks for the rapidly expanding gig economy.
First Gig Economy Treaty at Glance
On June 12, 2026, the course of global labor governance took a decisive turn when, at its 114th International Labour Conference in Geneva, the ILO finally ratified the Decent Work in the Platform Economy Convention (ILO Convention No. 193) with a vote of 406-8-36. This first-ever binding instrument setting labor standards for digital platform/gig workers represents the product of a lengthy multi-year debate leading to an international understanding that labor law itself had to be redefined to apply to the digital age. The Convention sought to fill a regulatory gap in which "corporation power, algorithmic governance, work informality, and workers’ rightlessness defined the space."
The Genesis: How the Convention Came to Be
The negotiations of ILO Convention No. 193 were long, complex, and controversial. The systematic ILO attention on the gig economy was started during the beginning of the 2010s as on-demand app-based models provided by Uber, Lyft, Deliveroo, Amazon Flex, etc., began to transform the labor market fundamentally. The problem concerned is mass misclassification of workers.
Labeling platform workers as "independent contractors," as opposed to "employees," allows digital platforms to escape many standard labor law obligations such as minimum wage standards, social security benefits, health and safety standards, and the right to organize and bargain collectively.
Calls for international action escalated with the growth of the gig economy. 435 million people in the world were active in online gig work as of 2023, based on the World Bank Report. The platform work was added to the agenda of the ILO Governing Body in 2023. In 2024, a questionnaire was sent to member States and social partners and compiled into Report V(2): Realizing decent work in the platform economy (February 2025).
A decisive turning point occurred at the 113th International Labour Conference in June 2025 when, despite objections from employer representatives and governments like the United States, India, and Switzerland, delegates agreed to adopt both a binding Convention and a Recommendation on the issue.
A Standard-Setting Committee then produced a draft instrument throughout 2025 and early 2026. The committee's text was adopted by the committee on June 11, 2026, and by the conference plenary the following day. Civil society groups, including Privacy International and Human Rights Watch, played a role in the process through their recommendations regarding algorithmic governance, data privacy, and inclusive coverage.
Scope and Definitional Framework
The most important and contentious aspect of the Convention is its scope. The text defines "digital labour platforms" as being covered, as well as "all digital platform workers… whether in the formal or informal economy. "It is designed this way precisely because previous attempts at regulating platforms, such as the 2024 EU Platform Work Directive, which was weakened considerably by the Council's final approval, were narrow and open to carve-outs. "Digital platform worker," according to Convention No. 193, is defined as "a person who is in employment or engaged in work for the provision of a service organised and/or mediated by a digital labour platform." It makes no distinction regarding employee status, thereby evading the definitional trap that allowed platforms to deny responsibility by defining workers as self-employed. The platforms covered in the Convention include location-based (food delivery, ride-hailing, domestic care, and construction services) and online/cloud-based platforms (data annotation, content moderation, creative freelancing, and software development).
Key Substantive Provisions
- Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work :Convention 193 requires each state that ratifies it to make arrangements to "respect, promote, and realise" these fundamental principles and rights at work, which under the 1998 ILO Declaration were identified as freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; the elimination of forced or compulsory labour; the abolition of child labour and the elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation. The question of collective bargaining rights is especially important since digital platforms have not in the past been willing to accept unions and bargaining processes, claiming that since those who work on the platform are classified as independent contractors, they do not have the right to bargain collectively.
- Fair Pay and Parity of Treatment :The Convention enshrines equal pay and treatment for gig workers: "not less favorable conditions than those offered to workers of the same employment status classification." This has the aim of remedying the two-tier system maintained by a number of digital platforms, where workers performing the equivalent job role of employees are provided with considerably lower remuneration, lacking the benefits, stability, and protection afforded to employees under statutory labor law.
- Transparency and Algorithmic Accountability:One of the most innovative features of Convention 193 is its attempt to tackle algorithmic management. Digital platforms must supply information about the terms of the working relationship in a manner that is "timely, verifiable, and easily accessible and comprehensible" and, "in all cases prior to any significant changes," must disclose how automated systems allocate work, set pay, and determine termination decisions. Civil society organisations, such as Privacy International and Human Rights Watch, sought to make algorithmic control, including human oversight over automated decisions to impose disciplinary sanctions, legally binding. While the final provision fell short of doing so, it represents a new standard for algorithmic transparency in international labour law.
- Occupational Safety and Health :Each member state will be required to take steps to prevent occupational accidents, diseases, and injuries "affecting platform workers." For location-based gig workers, such as delivery and ride-hailing drivers who are repeatedly placed in hazardous and unstable work environments, this provision is vital in addressing what is frequently referred to as a 'silent crisis' within the platform economy, as workers are often ineligible for statutory workplace injury coverage and compensation schemes.
- Social Security Access:Possibly the most significant structural reform the Convention seeks to bring about, gig workers will have a right to access social security (including medical coverage, sick pay, and retirement and maternity/parental/sick benefits), which they have been able to bypass on the grounds of independent contractor status. For decades, digital platforms have lowered labor costs by externalizing the costs of social insurance onto gig workers themselves or public welfare systems. Convention 193 attempts to render that strategy illegal under international law.
- Protection for migrant and refugee workers :There are provisions protecting migrant and refugee platform workers and ensuring rights and protection throughout the life cycle of work, covering recruitment to employment and providing protection against discrimination. Migrant workers are over-represented among those employed in low-paid and informal gig work, where they face the highest risks of exploitation and deteriorating work conditions.
- Dispute resolution: Convention 193 establishes for platform workers the right to effective and impartial complaint and dispute resolution procedures as well as appropriate remedies, meaning when a country ratifies and domesticates the convention, workers will be empowered to pursue direct claims against digital platforms, overcoming the traditional obstacles placed in the way of such action.
Enforcement Architecture and Its Limitations
Despite the convention's potential, it is subject to key difficulties in implementation. The ILO does not have the enforcement power of the World Trade Organization, and simply ratifying a Convention does not automatically give domestic law effects. Countries must integrate the Convention into their national legislation, and ratifying members are not bound to implement it until 12 months after the Convention is ratified, which has also required two ratifications for entry into force. The Convention has optional provisions excluding the scope, where the argument is for the need of flexibility in the varied labour markets. While the International Trade Union Confederation, in reaction to the exclusions, has argued that large numbers of workers could be out of its protection, the countries that resort to the exceptions have to give a justification for this practice. The enforcement of the Convention is largely a matter of political will. Countries that, like the United States, voted against the Convention, will certainly choose not to ratify and implement it in their own legal system, leaving the gig workers out of its scope.
Geopolitical and Comparative Context
Convention No. 193 did not arise in a vacuum. There has been a trend of national governments regulating platform work in various ways. Spain's Riders' Law (2021) provided for a legal presumption of employment for delivery riders, while the UK Supreme Court ruled that Uber drivers are workers in 2021, entitling them to minimum wage and holidays. The French Constitutional Council (2020) found platform worker charter clauses consistent with rights. Some Indian states have promoted registration for gig workers for social security purposes (though national legislation is still needed). Convention No. 193 standardises these varied efforts through international normative agreement and particularly helps lower-income states lacking capacity or power against global platforms.
Conclusion
While ILO Convention No. 193 represents a momentous milestone for platform workers, the true impact of the Convention rests on ratification, domestic legislation, and judicial enforcement, alongside consistent vigilance on the part of the trade unions and civil society. Its most significant accomplishment to date is the establishment of a new international norm: for the first time, it establishes under international law that the labor rights of platform and gig workers are state responsibilities, not discretionary private undertakings by companies, a fact made urgently necessary by the growing strength of platform power.
References
- https://www.ilo.org/resource/conference-paper/ilc/113/draft-resolution-and-proposed-conclusions-standard-setting-committee-decent
- https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/6/12/un-adopts-treaty-setting-standards-for-gig-economy-workers
- https://www.ilo.org/node/697106
- https://www.europeanpapers.eu/e-journal/decent-work-gig-economy-appraisal-eu-ilo-regulation-digital-labour-platforms
- https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/worlds-fi
- https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2026/06/14/2003859085
Executive Summary:
A viral photo on social media claims to show a ruined bridge in Kerala, India. But, a reality check shows that the bridge is in Amtali, Barguna district, Bangladesh. The reverse image search of this picture led to a Bengali news article detailing the bridge's critical condition. This bridge was built-in 2002 to 2006 over Jugia Khal in Arpangashia Union. It has not been repaired and experiences recurrent accidents and has the potential to collapse, which would disrupt local connectivity. Thus, the social media claims are false and misleading.
Claims:
Social Media users share a photo that shows a ruined bridge in Kerala, India.
Fact Check:
On receiving the posts, we reverse searched the image which leads to a Bengali News website named Manavjamin where the title displays, “19 dangerous bridges in Amtali, lakhs of people in fear”. We found the picture on this website similar to the viral image. On reading the whole article, we found that the bridge is located in Bangladesh's Amtali sub-district of Barguna district.
Taking a cue from this, we then searched for the bridge in that region. We found a similar bridge at the same location in Amtali, Bangladesh.
According to the article, The 40-meter bridge over Jugia Khal in Arpangashia Union, Amtali, was built in 2002 to 2006 and was never repaired. It is in a critical condition, causing frequent accidents and risking collapse. If the bridge collapses it will disrupt communication between multiple villages and the upazila town. Residents have made temporary repairs.
Hence, the claims made by social media users are fake and misleading.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the viral photo claiming to show a ruined bridge in Kerala is actually from Amtali, Barguna district, Bangladesh. The bridge is in a critical state, with frequent accidents and the risk of collapse threatening local connectivity. Therefore, the claims made by social media users are false and misleading.
- Claim: A viral image shows a ruined bridge in Kerala, India.
- Claimed on: Facebook
- Fact Check: Fake & Misleading
