The celebration of Prime Minister Modi's victory in 2019 Lok Sabha elections is still going on, across the nation. While many expressed their cheers by taking out rallies and distributing free tea in different parts of the country, others started cyber frauds under the name of BJP government schemes.
In the last two days, many mobile phone users in Hyderabad and other parts of the country have received a message that says, "Under Make In India programme two crore laptops are being distributed free-of-cost for youngsters." It further says that more than 30 lakh people have already availed this offer. The message also provides a web link, www.modi-laptop.wish-karo-yar.tk for people to claim the free laptop.
Once a user clicks on the link given in the text message, the user has to provide their name, age, state, and mobile number.
According to the cyber experts and police, this seems to be a racket, through which some fraudster could be collecting users' data or must be trying to get his/her personal information by using malicious software. The officials claim that the domain (tk) is not an official domain of the Indian government. "All Indian government websites have gov.in URL, while the domain mentioned in the messages, refers to Tokelau, in New Zealand, said the officials.
A S Murty, Associate Director, Information Security Education & Awareness (ISEA) said, "In fraud cases like these, all these links work for some time and after collecting user data, they are closed permanently." While asking the people to be cautious he added, "Users should cross-check government websites or websites of the respective ministries or departments for any such schemes, to avoid being trapped. Many people also fool people by using spoofed websites posing as government websites. And the best way to avoid following in these traps is to regularly update the browser to recognise malformed URLs."
He further said that do not click on every link that is given on any emails or websites, instead copy the link and paste it in a new window. "Accessing such websites and links on mobile phones is more dangerous, as they may contain malware and that can gain access to the users' personal information like bank account details, pictures and emails," he said. The Telangana police have not received any complaints regarding the link as of now.
