Booked a pilgrimage, holiday package online? Govt alerts public on booking frauds; check details

The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, on Saturday issued a public advisory warning citizens against a surge in online booking scams that impersonate religious institutions and tourist service providers.

These fraudulent schemes, which have become increasingly sophisticated, are operating through fake websites, deceptive social media accounts, and paid advertisements on search engines such as Google, the ministry said in a statement.

Victims are being lured with offers such as helicopter bookings for Kedarnath and Chaar Dhaam, hotel reservations for pilgrims, online taxi services, and religious tour packages. After making payments, users often receive no confirmation, and the contact numbers become unreachable, it added.

"Always verify the authenticity of websites before making any payments," the ministry cautioned, advising the public to avoid clicking on unknown or sponsored links shared on platforms like Google, Facebook, and WhatsApp.

The government has also shared official portals for some services to help citizens avoid falling prey to such scams.

The I4C is implementing a multi-pronged strategy to curb these scams, including scam signal exchange with intermediaries like Google, WhatsApp, and Facebook for proactive detection.

"Cybercrime Hotspots are being identified and State / UTs are being originated are being sensitized," the release said.

"Fake websites/advertisement and impersonating social media accounts access are being disabled on to protect citizens."