NEW DELHI: The cybercrime unit I4C, under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), has advised people to be cautious of suspicious e-notices from government offices received via email.
They recommend checking the Internet to authenticate the official's name mentioned in the email and calling the department to verify if it is genuine.
In a public advertisement, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the MHA cautioned that internet users should be aware of “fake emails” disguised as government e-notices, warning that these could be scams designed to make people “victims of cyber fraud.”
As a countermeasure, the I4C has asked people that before clicking or responding to such emails, they should: “check if the email has originated from an authentic government website that ends with ‘gov.in’; check the internet for information regarding officials named in the email; and call the mentioned department to verify the email received.”
The notice issued by the MHA’s I4C said such suspicious emails and other types of cyber fraud should be reported immediately to ‘www.cybercrime.gov.in’ or by calling the cybercrime helpline number 1930.
It is noteworthy that earlier this month, the MHA issued a public advisory alerting email users about fraudulent emails bearing names, signatures, stamps, and logos of Delhi Police Cyber Crime and Economic Offence, Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), the Intelligence Bureau, and Cyber Cell of Delhi.
According to the advisory issued on July 4, a letter attached to these emails made allegations of child pornography, pedophilia, cyber pornography, sexually explicit exhibits, etc., against the recipients.
The MHA stated that fraudsters use different email addresses to send these fake emails with attachments.
“The receiver of any such email should be aware of 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,” the MHA said.
The I4C, an organization under the MHA that deals comprehensively with cybercrimes, issued a similar advisory in August last year, cautioning users against fraudulent emails impersonating its CEO and bearing subject titles like ‘urgent notification’ and ‘court notification.’
“These misleading emails are targeted to various government offices, and individuals and falsely accuse them of cybercrimes, urging them to respond,” it had said, adding that the logos of I4C, IB and Delhi Police used in these emails are “intentionally fake, deceptive and created with malicious motives”.
Last week, several officers in the Central Secretariat received such suspicious emails, which falsely claimed to have been issued by a person working at “MEA Messaging Team NIC High Commission of India.”