India Cybercrime Warning on Pilgrim Scams

The India — Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the India — Ministry of External Affairs, has issued a public warning about a surge in online booking scams targeting Char Dham pilgrims and tourists across India. Fraudsters are using fake websites, social media pages, and paid advertisements on platforms like Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms, and Meta Platforms — WhatsApp to offer fraudulent travel services, including helicopter bookings for Kedarnath and hotel reservations. Unsuspecting individuals are duped into making payments for services they never receive. The India — Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) is implementing a multi-pronged strategy to combat these scams, which includes exchanging scam signals with major IT intermediaries, identifying cybercrime hotspots, disabling fake online accounts, and developing new features on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal to facilitate reporting.