Messages are still whirring on social media about the Pahalgam terror attacks. Videos, photos and advisories are all doing the rounds. Some of these are accounts of the families of those killed. Others cite new revelations as the probe goes on. There is a question mark over the credibility  of some of these, but that is not the focus of this editorial.

Instead, we must highlight that amidst opinion, analyses and so-called breaking news, messages are doing the rounds about the Indian defence forces. These messages, which come with bank details, tell people to pay a certain amount, sometimes as little as Rs 1 a day, towards our armed forces. According to the messages, the money will be collected in a huge corpus, causing relatively little, if any, financial pain to each contributor.  To lend credibility to these messages, some claim to be part of a government scheme.