As India awaits the rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine, as the government holds dry runs and vaccine manufacturers await emergency use approval, people’s anxiety and eagerness for the vaccine is being exploited by cyber criminals, the Cyberabad police said. Police have asked people to beware of fraudsters calling people and asking them to register for the vaccine in advance, collecting their personal details and defrauding them in process.
“Beware of fraud in the name of COVID-19 vaccine. Cyber criminals are committing new types of crimes in the time of the coronavirus pandemic. Taking advantage of people’s fear of the coronavirus, cyber criminals are cheating them by telling them a vaccine will be ready soon, and asking them to register for it,” the Cyberabad Police tweeted.
కరోనా వ్యాక్సిన్ పేరిట మోసం... తస్మాత్ జాగ్రత్త !!
— Cyberabad Police (@cyberabadpolice) December 30, 2020
కరోనా కాలంలో సైబర్ నేరగాళ్లు కొత్త తరహా నేరాలు చేస్తున్నారు. కరోనా పట్ల ప్రజల భయాన్ని ఆసరాగా చేసుకొని కరోనా కు వ్యాక్సిన్ రాబోతుందని ముందుగా రిజిస్ట్రేషన్ చేసుకోవాలని సైబర్ నేరగాళ్లు ప్రజలను మోసం చేస్తున్నారు. pic.twitter.com/fsDHjBTuG6
According to the police, there have been instances of such fraudsters calling people in the name of COVID-19 vaccine registration and collecting personal details like Aadhaar, email id etc. They then ask for the one-time password (OTP) received on the victim’s phone to authenticate Aadhaar, open bank accounts in their name using the OTPs, and go on to use these accounts for fraudulent activities, police said.
In some cases, the fraudsters also trick the victims into revealing information about their bank payments cards, and steal money from their accounts.
Police have asked people not to believe phone calls from people asking them to register in advance for the COVID-19 vaccine. They also asked people not to share any OTPs received on their phones, as well as personal details, and bank payment card details, with unknown callers or strangers
People receiving such calls have been asked to inform Cyberabad Cyber Crime Police on 9490617310, or on WhatsApp (9490617444).
India has eight COVID-19 vaccine candidates, including three indigenous vaccines. The vaccines are all under different stages of clinical trials, and could be ready for authorisation in the near future. These include AstraZeneca and Oxford University-developed and Serum Institute of India (SII) manufactured Covishield, Covaxin by Bharat Biotech Limited, ZyCoV-D by Zydus Cadila and Russian vaccine candidate Sputnik-V.
