Beware: SMSes asking you to pay challan fee doing rounds

City residents are getting fake SMSes from unknown numbers for past few days

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, May 27

"Your Challan number 348915784190401 for PB08DK1083 having total challan amount as Rs 500. For online payment of challan visit: https.//echallanparivahan.in/ You can also contact RTO office for the disposal of your challan." This is the message that local residents have been receiving from unknown numbers for the past few days.

However, this is one of the novel ways devised by cyber fraudsters to defraud innocents using information and technology. Money is being siphoned off from people using fake accounts.

Considering it as a fake message, some of the vigilant city residents not only saved themselves from falling prey to the fraud but also cautioned others as well through social media posts.

IP Singh Makkar, while sharing an image of the message on a Facebook group, captioned it as "Beware of the cyber criminals".

"It has been informed that cyber criminals are innovating new methods to usurp your money and credentials. Some people are frequently receiving such messages which are fake, hence, not to fall in their trap by proceeding with instructions given in the text," posted Makkar, who, while talking to The Tribune, stated that his colleague had received the message four days ago. However, they were sure that they did not break any traffic rule when they tried to proceed they discovered that both the user and website were forged.

Instantly, the post was flooded with several comments narrating the same story.

Dhupar Sim in a different post on a social networking site wrote: "I got a text from an RTO office, asking to deposit a challan worth Rs 500 for not wearing a seat belt while driving. But since the lockdown was imposed, I didn't go out anywhere and my car is parked at my house."

Similarly Rajat Jain, another resident, also shared the copy of the SMS that one of his family members had received on Tuesday. He urged netizens to not pay any amount through any such fake websites. He also provided the link of the official website (https://echallan.parivahan.gov.in/) that is used for paying challans.

While Jalandhar Cyber Cell in charge Sub Inspector Monika said no such incident was reported to her. The Ludhiana police after reporting a few cases have circulated the information on their social media page to aware people.

Meanwhile, Regional Transport Authority (RTA) in-charge Barjinder Singh confirmed that the matter was brought to his notice yesterday and he was verifying the same. The source of the fake ID was yet to be known. He also advised residents to approach the RTA office if they receive any such SMS.

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