Now, scamsters use Covid testing as bait

Cybercops urge netizens to verify the authenticity of emails / SMSs before sharing details

The cyber scamsters have widened their nets after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) permitted patients to undergo COVID testing without the doctor's prescriptions at private labs, as a number of messages with phishing links have sprung up on the internet. With regard to this scam, cyber police have been keeping an eye out for such links and have asked the citizens to not fall prey to such scams, while reporting the matter to the police immediately.

A senior official said, the scamsters have been targeting the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and banking sector, wherein they impersonate government agencies, departments and trade associations who have been asked to oversee the disbursement of the government fiscal aid. "The accused lure citizens with a free testing for COVID-19 disease, mostly from an email id (ncov2019@gov.in), inciting them to provide personal and financial information. As soon as the user clicks on the link sent by the scamsters, privy information linked with the bank account and phone number is stolen, leading to other crimes," said the official.

The cyber police have been tracking all the activities on the I inter net, and have observed that a number of websites linked to the dark net have been embedded in links sent to the users in the name of free COVID testing. Police have appealed to the people to cross check the sender of the email and not share any privy details with unknown people. Moreover, it is of utmost importance to verify the authenticity of the email/SMS before giving out any details, said police.