Delhi, 19 April (H.S.): The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, has issued a warning about online booking frauds, specifically targeting religious pilgrims and tourists. Scammers utilize professional-looking fake websites, deceptive social media pages, and ads on search engines to con unsuspecting individuals. These scams include offers for helicopter bookings to Kedarnath, guest house reservations for pilgrims, online taxi services, and holiday packages. Victims often realize they've been scammed when they don't receive confirmations and cannot reach the contact numbers provided.

To combat this, the I4C advises caution: always verify website authenticity before payments, avoid unknown links, and cross-check with official government portals or trusted travel agencies. In case of fraud, individuals should report incidents at the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (www.cybercrime.gov.in) or by calling 1930. The I4C is employing a multi-pronged strategy to combat these scams, including exchanging scam signals with IT intermediaries like Google and Facebook, identifying cybercrime hotspots, and disabling fake websites and accounts to protect citizens.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar