In the past few weeks, between April and May 2022, a website with the domain ‘enroll-now.today’ has been sharing opportunities for fully funded scholarships in the United Kingdom.
The website, using different WhatsApp platforms, had advertised a fully-funded scholarship by the University of Glasglow. A closer look after clicking the link showed Glasgow Caledonian University instead of the University of Glasgow as shared via the WhatsApp post.
VERIFICATION
The links circulated in the fully-funded scholarships were checked on Whois to verify the details of the website. Information obtained from Whois revealed that the website was registered in February 2022, and the registrant’s contact resides in the Capital Region (State) of IS (country).
However, there is no state known as Capital Region, and nor is there a Country known as IS in the world, except IS is an abbreviation for Iceland.
Also, the website uses the Lyupz URL shortener to modify any weblink before sharing, which makes it convincing for people to imagine it is originating from the original source. After clicking on the link, users are required to submit their personal details, to apply for the scholarship.
Attempts to go to the homepage of the website proved abortive as users can only access the customized link that has been shared. When the domain is being searched, it displayed an error and a CGI-Bin folder. A CGI bin is a folder used to house scripts that will interact with a Web browser to provide functionality for a Web page or website.
This indicates that the website has been altered to ensure no suspicion of any kind.
A quick check on the official websites of the University of Glasgow and the Commonwealth Scholarships indicated that the information from ‘enroll-now.today’ is false.
The University of Glasgow has provisions for scholarships for EU students, undergraduate students from England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as well as Post Graduate Loans for Masters. None of the scholarships capture Travel expenses, housing, -Accommodation, and Medical Facilities as claimed by ‘enroll-now.today’.
Another check with Glasgow Caledonian University, for the purpose of verifying the two universities mentioned on the website, showed that there is no fully-funded scholarship currently running in the university. Other available scholarships are being run in partnership with different bodies and institutes.
VERDICT
The WhatsApp claim that there is a fully-funded scholarship by the University of Glasgow is FALSE.