{"id":15835,"date":"2025-04-21T05:47:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/govt-warns-of-online-scams-targeting-pilgrims\/"},"modified":"2025-04-21T05:47:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:47:28","slug":"govt-warns-of-online-scams-targeting-pilgrims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/govt-warns-of-online-scams-targeting-pilgrims\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt warns of online scams targeting pilgrims"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Warning Against Online Booking Frauds<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, has issued a warning to the public about online booking scams, particularly those targeting religious pilgrims and tourists across the country. These scams are being carried out through fake websites, deceptive social media pages, Facebook posts, and paid advertisements on search engines like Google.<\/p>\n<p>According to the advisory, these scams involve the creation of professional-looking but fake websites and social media profiles and WhatsApp accounts offering services such as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Helicopter booking for Kedarnath, Chaar Dhaam<\/li>\n<li>Guest house and hotel booking for pilgrims<\/li>\n<li>Online cab\/taxi service bookings<\/li>\n<li>Holiday packages and religious tours<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<h3>Tips to Follow While Booking Hotels\/Travel Services<\/h3>\n<p>To avoid falling prey to these scams, follow these tips:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Always verify the authenticity of websites before making any payments.<\/li>\n<li>Verify before clicking on \u201csponsored\u201d or unknown links on Google, Facebook, or WhatsApp.<\/li>\n<li>Cross-check bookings only through official government portals or trusted travel agencies.<\/li>\n<li>Report such websites immediately at the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal: www.cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930 in case of any frauds.<\/li>\n<li>Kedarnath Helicopter booking can be done via <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heliyatra.irctc.co.in\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/www.heliyatra.irctc.co.in<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Somnath Trust\u2019s official website is <a href=\"https:\/\/somnath.org\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">https:\/\/somnath.org<\/a> and guest house booking can be done via the same.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Article Details<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published On: Apr 21, 2025, at 09:18 AM IST<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Stay Informed<\/strong><br \/>\nJoin the community of 2M+ industry professionals by subscribing to our newsletter to get the latest insights and analysis.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ciso.economictimes.indiatimes.com\/app\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe to Newsletter<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Download ETCISO App<\/strong><br \/>\nGet real-time updates, save your favorite articles, and more by downloading the ETCISO App.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ciso.economictimes.indiatimes.com\/app\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Download App<\/a><\/p>\n\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/ciso.economictimes.indiatimes.com\/news\/cybercrime-fraud\/government-warns-about-online-booking-scams-targeting-pilgrims-of-kedarnath-chaar-dhaam-and-other-religious-places\/120470926\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Source Link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Warning Against Online Booking Frauds The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), under the Ministry of Home Affairs, has issued a warning to the public about online booking scams, particularly&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":15836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cybercrime-fraud"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2025\/04\/government-warns-about-online-booking-scams-targeting-pilgrims-of-kedarnath-chaar-dhaam-and-other-re.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fusionmindlabs.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}