Over 1,000 duped on fake Covid vaccine websites, two arrested

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.

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 have been blocked in the past fortnight, after links to these websites were found circulating as text messages and online posts, police said.

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

The investigation done by CyPAD has led to the arrest of two people of Nepal origin,--one from Siliguri in West Bengal and another from Uttarakhand-between March and April.

The investigating team also seized their two bank accounts in which more than ₹40 lakh was deposited by at least 1,000 people for getting the vaccine, a senior CyPAD officer, who did not want to be named, said. The two were identified as Shekhar Pariyarwas (caught from Siliguri) and Ashok Singh.