Rudraprayag (Uttarakhand) [India], May 17 : Rudraprayag Superintendent of Police Niharika Tomar spearheaded a digital enforcement drive to safeguard pilgrims planning their journey to the sacred Char Dham shrines. The district police blocked hundreds of lookalike websites, social media channels, and payment links that were created by digital thieves to siphon cash from unsuspecting travellers.
Speaking to ANI, Rudraprayag SP said that a large number of pilgrims travel to Shri Kedarnath Dham through heli services during the Kedarnath Yatra. However, in recent years, several cases of cyber fraud have come to light in which fraudsters collect money from people for helicopter bookings through fake advertisements.
"For the Char Dham Yatra, many devotees reach the shrines by utilising helicopter services. In recent years, it has been observed that instances of cyber fraud targeting devotees seeking darshan have become prevalent; fraudsters use deceptive advertisements to lure people into parting with their money," she said.
The SP said that even before the heli services commenced, a dedicated police team had been formed to monitor such activities. The team has been working continuously, and action has been taken against nearly 550 platforms, including Facebook and Instagram pages, websites, WhatsApp numbers, WhatsApp Business accounts, and bank accounts involved in the fraud.
"To address this issue regarding the helicopter services, we constituted a dedicated team approximately one month before the commencement of the pilgrimage season to specifically monitor and supervise this domain. Since its inception, this team has been working continuously, and we have taken action against approximately 550 online entities, including Facebook and Instagram pages, websites, personal and business WhatsApp numbers, and bank accounts."
She further said that FIRs have been registered at Guptkashi and Sonprayag police stations, and investigations are underway. Complaints are continuously being received, including 10 complaints through the NCRP portal. Police are also taking action on the FIRs to determine the total amount involved in the fraud and identify the total number of victims.
"We have also registered First Information Reports (FIRs) in connection with these incidents, specifically at the Kotwali and Sonprayag police stations, and investigative proceedings remain actively underway..." SP Niharika Tomar said.