Hyderabad: A city resident lost Rs 6 lakh after paying a challan through a fake e-challan link, prompting the Hyderabad commissioner of police, VC Sajjanar, to issue a warning.
The victim had received an SMS directing him to a website that looked exactly like the official police portal, but when he tried to pay the Rs 500 fine, fraudsters charged Rs 6 lakh on his credit card through unauthorised international transactions.
The CP has warned citizens against paying challans through SMS links. In case anyone falls victim to cyber fraud, they are urged to call the helpline at 1930.
The CP has asked to look for red flags, such as unknown mobile numbers, random sender IDs, shortened links like bit.ly, lnk, tinyurl, etc. or messages with urgent threats like ‘take action.’
Challans must always be paid through the official e-challan website or through the state traffic police website.
