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

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

What is an e-challan?

An e-challan is a digital ticket issued to a vehicle owner for violating a traffic rule by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). The violations are detected through various means, such as traffic cameras installed at intersections and on roads, 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 their violation is recorded by law enforcement, the owner receives a message, asking them to pay a fine through online or offline modes. These e-challan messages are easy to understand but in case of scams, the owner receives an identical message from unofficial sources. Being hard to tell apart, the fake e-challan messages are received from an unknown number, informing the owner that they have been fined for a traffic violation.

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

How to spot and dodge these scams?

The identity of e-challan scams includes a message sent from an unknown number instead of MoRTH’s registered numbers. The link in the message ends with domains other than “gov.in,” associated with all the websites run by the Indian government. According to Haryana ’s Faridabad DCP Headquarters and Cyber Crime Officer Hemendra Kumar Meena, “Genuine e-challan messages include critical vehicle-specific details like engine and chassis numbers. They direct users to the official government site: echallan.parivahan.gov.in. In contrast, fraudulent messages subtly alter the link, removing “.gov” to make it appear as echallan.parivahan.in. It’s essential to ensure that the payment link ends with “gov.in” for authenticity.”