Booster Dose Frauds shakes the City of Joy

Since the trials of the Covid-19 Vaccines by various countries there has been many folds of mystery wrapping up on the aspect of fraudulently created on the name of Vaccine Injections and its implementations. Apart from a lot of hustle and bustle India could achieve a 100 crore vaccination landmark with the support and efforts of its citizens.

There has been a steep rise in the fraudulent calls that dupe the senior citizens of the city and outskirts in the name of booking booster doses for them. Sounding extremely convincing, the callers have enough data base that mention the candidate’s name, medical details as well as the first and the final dose vaccination dates. Interestingly the calls have been made as the health care officials of the government.

Upon a whistleblowing conducted by TV9 the process has come into notice by the cyber officials and the authority. One such call has been recorded and shaped as a video byte by the media and is embedded here for the purpose of mass concern.

The malicious actors have enough access to the databases of vaccination certificates either from the posts on the social media or from any other domain which is being used for the fraudulent actions further.

As the statement goes “Precaution is always Better than Cure” and hence providing you some precautionary measures that would help you to be safe from the act of the fraudsters. The golden measures are as follows:

1. Do not share OTP over the phone. It is not your booking confirmation. It is your banking transaction OTP generated by the hacker.
2. Do not scan QR code or click on any link. It is not a vaccine dose booking link. It is a link from a payment gateway, where you are paying money to someone.
3. Do not share Aadhaar card or DOB with anyone. None other than a fraud will ask you for this information over the phone.
4. Do not install any software for booking. You are actually installing Anydesk or TeamViewer or Quick KYC remote desktop tool, which will take full control of your mobile handset.
5. Do not SMS a 20digit number to your telecom provider (example - 121, 124). You are activating your number in the blank SIM of the hacker (that is his 20digit SIM number). Your number will get deactivated from your SIM. So, OTP will go to his SIM henceforth. If you switch off your mobile, you will not understand if SIM SWAP has happened.
6. In case Bank Frauds come into notice do not Switch off the Mobile Phone, rather switch off the MOBILE DATA immediately to make the transaction fail.

Always remember that authentic booster dose registrations can be done only with the help of CoWin Application or from Book My Show. One may always make visits to the nearest vaccination centers for the booking and registration activity.

Incase one is a victim of Booster dose booking fraudulent activities, the following activities can be taken into action:

1. Lodge a General Diary at Police Station via WhatsApp.
2. Submit to the bank a letter addressed to bank Manager asking to refund the stolen money, attaching a copy of GD & Bank Statement showing the fraudulent transaction.
3. If there is no OTP involved, the bank will return upto 1 lac from the insurance coverage.
4. If you can lodge the complaint fast and police take up the matter with both banks (yours and the receiving bank), then the account of the hacker might get suspended. And any balance amount in his account will be used to return your full amount. If you are late to report or the police take time or the bank takes time, the fraudster will withdraw the money from their account and abandon the account.

The WhatsApp Contacts for the various branches of Kolkata Police have been placed for the benefits of the readers.

Stay Alert, Stay Safe!!!!

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