Centre issues alert about online booking scams impersonating pilgrim services

New Delhi, April 19 (IANS) The Centre on Saturday alerted the public about online booking frauds, especially those targeting pilgrims and tourists across the country.

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, said such frauds are being perpetrated through fake websites, deceptive social media pages, Facebook posts and paid advertisements on search engines like Google.

These scams involve the creation of professional-looking but fake websites and social media profiles and WhatsApp accounts offering services such as: helicopter booking for Kedarnath and Chaar Dhaam; guest house and hotel booking for pilgrims; online cab/taxi service bookings; and holiday packages and religious tours.

“Unsuspecting individuals, upon making payments through these portals, often realise they have been duped when no confirmation or service is received, and the contact numbers go unreachable,” said the I4C.

People are advised to exercise extreme caution. Always verify the authenticity of websites before making any payments.

“Verify before clicking on ‘sponsored' or unknown links on Google, Facebook, or WhatsApp. Cross-check bookings only through official government portals or trusted travel agencies,” said the national cyber centre.

To contain the scams, the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre is taking multi-prolonged strategy. Scam Signals are being regularly exchanged with IT intermediaries like Google, WhatsApp and Facebook for proactive detection.

Cybercrime hotspots are being identified and state/UTs are being originated are being sensitised, and fake websites/advertisement and impersonating social media accounts access are being disabled on to protect citizens.

“Suspect checking and Reporting feature on National Cybercrime Reporting Portal is developed to facilitate hassle-free reporting,” according to the I4C.

Meanwhile, the prevent the misuse of telecom resources for cyber-crime and financial frauds, the systems deployed by the I4C have reduced almost 97 per cent incoming spoofed calls.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has developed an online, secure Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP) for sharing of information related to misuse of telecom resources among the stakeholders for prevention of misuse of telecom resources for cyber-crime and financial frauds.

—IANS

na/