Union Home Ministry's cyber crime unit said that people should check the Internet to authenticate the name of the official named in it and call the mentioned department upon receiving a suspicious e-notice from a government office on the email. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) warned the public on Sunday about “fake emails” disguised as government e-notices in a public advertisement. This could be a con that can make people “a victim of cyber fraud”, the statement cautioned.
The I4C recommended several counter-measures before clicking on or responding to suspicious emails: verify if the email originated from an authentic government website ending with "gov.in"; search the Internet for information about the officials named in the email; and contact the mentioned department to confirm the email's legitimacy.
Finance Ministry also issued a public advisory
Earlier this month, the Union Finance Ministry issued a public advisory warning email users about fraudulent emails bearing the names, signatures, stamps, and logos of the Delhi Police Cyber Crime and Economic Offence, Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), the Intelligence Bureau, and the Cyber Cell of Delhi.
A letter attached to these emails, as per the advisory issued on July 4, made allegations of child pornography, pedophilia, cyber pornography, sexually explicit exhibit etc. against the receivers of the said e-mails. The fraudsters, it said, use different e-mail addresses for sending such fake e-mails with attachment. “The receiver of any such email should be aware about this fraudulent attempt. It is informed to the general public that any such e-mails with the attachment should not be responded to and such cases may be reported to the nearest police station/cyber police station,” it said.
MHA issues similar advisory last year
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), an organisation under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to deal with cyber crimes in a comprehensive manner, had issued a similar advisory in August last year cautioning users against such counterfeit emails impersonating the name of its CEO bearing subject titles like ‘urgent notification’ and ‘court notification’.
The logos of I4C, IB and Delhi Police used in these emails are “intentionally fake, deceptive and created with malicious motives,” it said. It should be noted here that several officers in the national capital’s Central Secretariat received such suspicious emails last week which were falsely stated to have been issued by a person working at “MEA Messaging Team NIC High Commission of India.
(With PTI inputs)
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