New Delhi: The Union Home Ministry announced on Saturday that the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has issued a nationwide warning warning about the surge in visitors in Char Dham Pilgrims and online booking scams. Fraudsters are using professional but fake websites, fake social media pages, Facebook posts and paid ads on search engines to trick travelers into booking services that do not exist.
Scammers is advertising helicopter rides to Kedarnath, Char Dham Circuit, online taxi booking, holiday packages and guest and hotel bookings for religious tours. Victims who pay through these portals are usually not confirmed and once the money is transferred, the contact number provided will die.
The Home Office recommends travelers verify the authenticity of the site before making any payments, avoid using unknown “sponsored” links on Google, Facebook or WhatsApp, and cross-check all bookings through an official government portal or well-known travel agency. Real helicopter bookings for Kedarnath should be made on heliyatra.irctc.co.in, while Somnath Trust’s website (Somnath.org) provides guaranteed guest bookings.
To combat these scams, I4C is exchanging “scam signals” with IT intermediaries such as Google, WhatsApp and Facebook to proactively detect, identify network fanatical hotspots and contact state and UT agencies, and to disable fake websites, ads, ads and fake social accounts. The Center also enhances the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (CyberCrime.gov.in) with suspicious checks and simplified reporting capabilities. Anyone who encounters fraudulent websites or advertisements is urged to report immediately through the portal or call 1930.
