LEAD NEWS : I4C ALERTS PUBLIC ABOUT ONLINE BOOKING SCAMS IMPERSONATING RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS AND TOURIST SERVICES

TTT NEWS NETWORK

NEW DELHI | 19 APRIL 2025

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, has alerted the public about online booking frauds, especially those targeting religious pilgrims and tourists across the country. These 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, Chaar Dhaam
• Guest house and hotel booking for pilgrims
• Online cab/taxi service bookings
• Holiday packages and religious tours

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

People are advised to exercise extreme caution:

1. Always verify the authenticity of websites before making any payments.
2. Verify before clicking on “sponsored” or unknown links on Google, Facebook, or WhatsApp.
3. Cross-check bookings only through official government portals or trusted travel agencies.
4. Report such websites immediately at the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal: cybercrime.gov.inor call 1930 in case of any frauds.
5. Kedarnath Helicopter booking can be done via https://www.heliyatra.irctc.co.in
6. Somnath Trust’s official website is https://somnath.organd guest house booking can be done via same.

To contain the scams, Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre is taking multi-prolonged strategy.

• Scam Signal Exchange – Scam Signalsare being regularly exchanged with IT intermediaries viz. Google, WhatsApp, Facebook for proactive detection.
• Enforcement –Cybercrime Hotspots are being identified and State / UTs from where crimes originate are being originated are being sensitized.
• Cyber Patrolling – Fake websites/advertisement and impersonating social media accountsaccess are being disabled periodically on to protect citizens.
• Suspect checking and Reporting feature on National Cybercrime Reporting Portal is developed to facilitate hassle free reporting.