AT LEAST 1,000 DUPED ON FAKE COVID JAB WEBSITES

NEW DELHI: Soon after India launched the world’s largest Covid-19 vaccination drive in mid-january, more than 1,000 people across the country were duped of over ₹40 lakh by an international syndicate that allegedly created a fake website, after cloning the official website of the Union ministry of health and family welfare, and offered inoculation to individuals at a cost of ₹4,000-₹6,000 per shot, the Delhi Police said on Friday.

Although that particular fake website was blocked around the first week of February and two separate cases were registered by the Delhi Police – one in February by the CYPAD (cyber crime unit) and another in the last week of April by South Avenue police station – at least eight more fake websites, which offered vaccination slots on payment, have been blocked in the past fortnight, after links to these websites were found being circulated as text messages and social media posts, police said.

“These links directed people to fake websites or prompted them to download mobile applications for registering themselves for the vaccination. The objective of these websites was to either dupe people of money or to steal their personal and banking data,” said Anyesh Roy, DCP, CYPAD.

As far as the two cases registered over the fake website of the ministry of health were concerned, there has been no progress in the South Avenue police’s investigation, the officer said. The investigation done by CYPAD has led to the arrest of two persons of Nepal origin, from Siliguri in West Bengal and Uttarakhand, between March and April.