New Delhi: On receiving a suspicious e-notice from a government office on the email, people should check the Internet to authenticate the name of the official named in it and call the mentioned department, the Union Home Ministry's cyber crime unit said on Sunday.
Users should be aware of "fake emails" sent in the garb of a government e-notice, said the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) in a public advertisement. This could be a con that can make people "a victim of cyber fraud", the ad cautioned. The I4C suggested counter-measures before clicking or responding to such emails: check if the email has originated from an authentic government website that ends with "gov.in"; check the internet for information regarding officials named in the email; and call the mentioned department to verify the email received.
Early this month, the Union finance ministry had issued a public advisory alerting email users about fraudulent e-mails bearing names, signatures, stamps and logos of Delhi Police Cyber Crime and Economic Offence, Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB), the Intelligence Bureau and Cyber Cell of Delhi.
A letter attached to these emails, as per the advisory issued on July 4, made allegations of child pornography, paedophilia, cyber pornography, sexually explicit exhibits etc. against the receivers of the said e-mails. The fraudsters, it said, use different e-mail addresses for sending such fake e-mails with attachments.
"Receiver of any such email should be aware about this fraudulent attempt. It is informed to the general public that any such e-mails with the attachment should not be responded to and such cases may be reported to the nearest police station/cyber police station," it said.