RBI Warns Against Fake Websites; 19 Websites To Be Banned Over Tatkal Booking!
RBI has asked people to be alert and vigilant and has said that they never ask for anybody's banking details.
Some serious action has been initiated over fake online portals, which are disguising as official RBI websites and stealing data from consumers.
Besides, around 19 websites have been asked to be blocked, as Indian Rail discovered that they are misusing tatkal bookings by creating shortcuts.
This includes some popular portals like MyRailInfo.in among others.
RBI: Don’t Fall Into The Trap Of Fake Websites!
Reserve Bank Of India or RBI had to come out, issue an urgent notification, alerting all customers about fake websites which are stealing data.
As per RBI’s notification, these fake websites design a layout which is similar to that of their official website and encourage users to submit their sensitive details, which are later exploited.
Giving example, RBI mentioned “www.indiareserveban.org”, which offers “Bank verification with online account holders”. The left-hand side of the website has fields very similar to RBI’s official website and has been designed to lure gullible bank account holders to share their data, illegally.
The site has been taken down as of now.
RBI has also warned against similar sounding websites like www.rbi.org, www.rbi.in
In their warning, RBI has explicitly stated that RBI doesn’t ask for any bank account details of any bank customer, and never store any bank account related information.
RBI’s official website is https://www.rbi.org.in, and it has no other alternative portal.
Indian Rail: 19 Websites To Be Blocked!
Meanwhile, Indian Railways has asked Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to immediately block 19 websites, which are misusing online ticket facilities of IRCTC, specially tatkal bookings.
Among these 19 websites are some of the most popular railway information related website like MyRailInfo.in, which is currently ranked 3913 in India, as per Alexa ranking.
In a reply in Parliament, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said,
“IRCTC has also lodged complaints at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Nagpur and Lucknow with respective cyber crime cells. The issue has also been brought to the notice of Central Bureau of Investigation by the Railway Board Vigilance for further investigation..”
Some other websites which have been asked to be blocked are www.tatkalaap.com and www.tatkalsoftservice.com.
Recently, CBI had arrested a techie, who had created a software to booking thousands of tatkal tickets in seconds.
In order to implement greater security features for tatkal, and to avoid such scams, steps have already taken.
The Minister said,
“Multilayer security with Deep Defence is implemented in the e-ticketing system. It comprises of frontend and backend firewall… Consultations have been held with National Technical Research Organisation for further strengthening the security of the system,”
