The airline is not marking its 28th anniversary this year and has cautioned the public to beware of scams.
This link shared in WhatsApp groups in Uganda claiming that Qatar Airways is offering money to celebrate its 28th anniversary is a HOAX.
On opening the link, one is asked to fill questionnaire attached to stand a chance of winning USh2,979,200 in the airline’s anniversary transport subsidy.
The questionnaire has four questions pertaining to knowledge of the airline, the participant’s age range, gender and rating of the company. As one fills the questionnaire, testimonies from purported previous winners pop up.
After filling the questionnaire, a final notification says the participant is successful. However, one must further share the link on WhatsApp to claim the prize. This is a common trick with phishing scams in which information is picked from unsuspecting users over false promises.
We have verified similar links before and found them to be scams as seen here and here.
However, we analysed this advert further.
A keyword search shows that the company was established on 22 November 1993 while a review of the airline’s verified social media handles found nothing about the purported anniversary or the cash offer.
We performed another keyword search which led to a 2022 fact-check in which the debunked claim had similar allegations of the 28th anniversary and money offers.
The airline has warned of such phishing scams on its website and explained how it interacts out with the public.
PesaCheck looked into a link in WhatsApp groups in Uganda claiming that Qatar Airways is marking its 28th anniversary and offering cash as part of the celebrations and found it to be a HOAX.