Digitisation drive of Indian Government is heating up and also the drive to encash on the digitisation by the fraudsters.
WhatsApp was flooded with forwarded message, which read, “`500 balance for every Indian. Reforming India. Modiji giving free balance.” This message was followed by a link which took the user to a dodgy website. No balance got transferred to any account, and an user just ended up sharing personal details with spammers.
Scamsters are cashing in on Digital India drive by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, more aggressively post demonetisation scheme by creating fake mobile recharge and government websites carrying name and picture of Honorable PM and circulating the malicious link on social media platforms.
These links are claiming to offer free recharge, increasing withdrawal and deposit bank limits after taking all the banking and personal details.
Modus Operandi
Website carrying name and picture of the prime minister was circulated which asked the user to recharge their mobile phone by `500-1,000 and in return their telecom company will recharge it by double the amount. It also said this recharge offer is part of PM’s latest scheme. Once the payment is made the website shows transaction failed but the money gets deducted. So the customer receives no bonus and ends up paying recharge amount to the fake portal.
The amount of recharge is so low that usually people don’t turn up to register an FIR but the website successfully makes huge gain. Gullible customer also believes on such links as they are look-alike of government or popular recharge portals. People fall prey to such online offers as many online companies have started giving attractive deals as central government is giving a push to digital transaction.
So all people making online transaction should be very alert about the website they are browsing. WhatsApp has been a breeding ground for such activities and spreading malicious links
