E-challan: How vehicle owners can spot a scam, protect themselves

Internet users have only recently learned about digital arrest scam after several victims lost huge amounts of money when a new of money-soliciting scam hit m. It is called e-challan scam and as name suggests, involves luring unsuspecting people into paying fake e-challan fines for traffic violations. government has issued warnings against rise of such scams, informing vehicle owners about how cybercriminals target m and how y can spot and save mselves.

What is an e-challan?

An e-challan is a digital ticket issued to a vehicle owner for violating a traffic rule by Ministry of Ro Transport and Highways (MoRTH). violations are detected through various means, such as traffic cameras installed at intersections and on ros, handheld machines used by traffic police officers, and Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) systems at different locations.

How do e-challan scams work?

When a vehicle owner violates a traffic rule and ir violation is recorded by law enforcement, owner receives a mess, asking m to pay a fine through online or offline modes. se e-challan messs are easy to understand but in case of scams, owner receives an identical mess from ufficial sources. Being hard to tell apart, fake e-challan messs are received from an unkwn number, informing owner that y have been fined for a traffic violation.

mess content includes owner’s name, vehicle registration number, and sometimes even driving licence number – making it hard for person t to suspect its aunticity. mess also usually contains a URL, which mess claims will allow vehicle owner to pay ir fine and get ir name cleared from list of violators. However, se links redirect users to a website that simply looks like official MoRTH website and accepts payments suspiciously. Such websites steal bank account or card details once owner enters m.

How to spot and dodge se scams?

identity of e-challan scams includes a mess sent from an unkwn number inste of MoRTH’s registered numbers. link in mess ends with domains or than “gov.in,” associated with all websites run by Indian government. According to Haryana ’s Faridab DCP Hequarters and Cyber Crime Officer Hemendra Kumar Meena, “Genuine e-challan messs include critical vehicle-specific details like engine and chassis numbers. y direct users to official government site: echallan.parivahan.gov.in. In contrast, fraudulent messs subtly alter link, removing “.gov” to make it appear as echallan.parivahan.in. It’s essential to ensure that payment link ends with “gov.in” for aunticity.”