Representative image | Photo credit: Perapong Boriboon
The Coordination Center of the Cyber Crime of India, under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Union, has alerted the public about the online reserve fraud, especially those that attack the pilgrims and tourists of Char Dham, throughout the country.
These frauds are perpetrated through false websites, pages of deceptive social networks, Facebook publications and pavement ads in search engines such as Google, said the ministy in a statement in a statement.
Scams involve the creation of professional but false websites and social media profiles and WhatsApp accounts that offer various services.
These include helicopter reservations for Kedarnath, House Hospital and hotel service for pilgrims of Char Dham, taxi online or taxi reserve, vacation packages and religious tours, according to the statement.
Unveiled individuals, when making payments through these portals, or realizing that they have been deceived when there is no confirmation or service and the contact numbers become unattainable.
People who exercise extreme caution are advised, the ministry said in the statement.
“Always verify the authenticity of the websites before making any payment. Verify before clicking on ‘sponsored links’ or unknown in Google, Facebook or WhatsApp. Refuse reserves only through official government portals or trusted travel agencies.”
The Ministry also urged the public to inform these websites immediately about the National Portal of Reports of Cyber Crimes in Cybercrime.gov. In O call 1930 in case of any fraud.
Helicopter reserves for Kedarnath can be made through Heliyatra.irctc.co.in, the official Somnath Trust website is somnath.org that can also be used for the reserves of the guest house.
To verify such scams, the Coordination Center of the Indian Cybercrime Crime (I4C) is adopting a multiple strategy.
Among the steps, the tasks include the exchange of fraud signals through which the scam signals are regularly exchanged with intermediaries such as Google, WhatsApp, Facebook for proactive detection.
The critical points of the cyber crime and the states and territories of the Union from where they originate are being sensitized are identified.
False websites and ads and access to social media accounts are disabled to protect citizens.
Verification characteristics and suspicious reports are being developed on the National Portal of Cyber Crimes Reports for reports without facilitation problems, according to the declaration.
Posted on April 19, 2025