In yet another fiasco of its fundraising campaigning, the Congress party had shared the link to the wrong/fake website which resembled the original one.
Media reports state that lakhs of money sent by supporters have gone to scamsters because of this.
The Indian National Congress (INC) recently initiated an online crowdfunding campaign named “Donate for Desh,” which literally means “Donate for the country” announced on 16 December 2023, and officially launched on 18 December 2023, by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge.
Kharge emphasized that these funds are pivotal for the party’s efforts in shaping a better India. Drawing inspiration from Mahatma Gandhi’s historic Tilak Swaraj Fund of 1920-21, this initiative aims to empower the party in fostering an India marked by fair resource distribution and opportunities. Kharge has urged citizens to contribute varying amounts, such as ₹138, ₹1380, and ₹13800, to the Congress account.
#WATCH | Delhi: Congress MP KC Venugopal says, "The Indian National Congress is proud to announce the launch of its online crowdfunding campaign, 'Donate for Desh'. This initiative is inspired by Mahatma Gandhi's historic Tilak Swaraj Fund' in 1920-21 and aims to empower our… pic.twitter.com/aHaccPabvf
— ANI (@ANI) December 16, 2023
However, there seems to be a noticeable setback for the Congress party, evident in both fundraising and digital strategy, where in it showed indicating a level of incompetence.
Moye Moye 1: Failed To Register Domain
Interestingly, the links provided by the Congress for crowdfunding campaign inadvertently directed donors to the BJP’s donation page. This situation arose because the Congress party initiated the crowdfunding campaign without securing the relevant domain names which were tactfully secured and registered by the BJP.
Following this crowdfunding mishap, netizens criticized the Congress, questioning why the party commenced the campaign prematurely without registering the necessary domain names.
I have been dealing in domains and hosting since 2003. It has been over 20 years. I have never seen someone so irresponsible as @INCIndia, who started a nationwide campaign by the name "#DonateForDesh" but forgot to register TLDs, including .com and .org. Check the domains below…
— Anurag (@LekhakAnurag) December 18, 2023
I mean by their own admission, idiots had 2 days to book at least the .org or .in domain name, but they didn't. Has Congress got "Donate for Desh" as a trademark? If their alliance called be called INDIA, we can ask money too for DonateForDesh https://t.co/eXPfnV1VNo
— Rahul Roushan (@rahulroushan) December 18, 2023
After the jibe Congress established an alternative domain to collect donations and also disseminated information on the online donation process.
महत्त्वपूर्ण सूचना 👇
आज भारतीय राष्ट्रीय कांग्रेस के स्थापना दिवस पर नागपुर की महारैली में कुर्सियों के पीछे एक बारकोड लगा है।
उस बारकोड को स्कैन कर आप 138 रुपए, 1380 रुपए, 13800 रुपए, 138000 रुपए या उससे अधिक भारतीय राष्ट्रीय कांग्रेस को दान स्वरूप दे सकते हैं।
इस रैली में… pic.twitter.com/ruVNSdC0WW
— Congress (@INCIndia) December 28, 2023
Moye Moye 2: Publishes Fake URL In Official Document
When the Congress was fighting itself with its embarrassment on the ongoing ‘Donate for Desh’ campaign, which has been active for the past month. This time another embarrassment took a more serious turn as the party unintentionally promoted a fake website that closely mimics the official campaign site. Unfortunately, funds directed to this site end up benefiting someone else rather than the Congress party.
On 10 January 2024, the Indian National Congress distributed its pamphlet on Rahul Gandhi’s upcoming event ‘Bharat Nyay Yatra’ which had a QR code and URL for the ‘Donate for Desh’ website, which was again inaccurately presented. Instead of donateinc.in, the pamphlet mistakenly printed donateinc.co.in and the same erroneous URL was incorporated into the QR code.
As the QR code and URL were provided by the Congress party in an official pamphlet document, users were unlikely to suspect the website’s authenticity given its close imitation of the official site.
It was only during the transaction completion stage one could find an odd name “Roj cash” under the banner Indian National Congress and the funds are being redirected elsewhere. While it cannot be definitively stated with certainty that the congress supporters were deceived but it is an outright scam, resulting in financial losses for numerous Congress supporters.
Curiously, the Congress party has not conveyed any level of distress and discontent regarding the issue. Despite this blatant case of intentional deception, the party has refrained from publicly declaring any intention to file a police complaint against those orchestrating the scam. Moreover, the resolution strategy the party intends to adopt for addressing the issue remains unclear.
(With inputs from OpIndia)
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