We¡¯ve all had a terrible 2020 thanks to the pandemic caused by SARS CoV-2. Some people got infected, some even lost their lives while some managed to stay safe, desperately waiting for a vaccine to take down the novel coronavirus.?
And now that vaccines have started to roll out in India, we¡¯re all optimistic to get protected soon.
However, cyber scammers see this as an opportunity to lure senior citizens to give them their hard-earned savings. This was highlighted by a tweet by PIB Fact Check which revealed that some fraudsters were claiming to be from the ¡®Drug Authority of India¡¯, calling up senior citizens to confirm their Aadhar number as well as OTP to allocate a COVID-19 vaccine for them.
The tweet stated, ¡°Some #Fraudsters claiming to be from Drug Authority of India are calling senior citizens to confirm their Aadhaar and OTP for #COVID19Vaccine allocation.It is an act of miscreants. Never disclose OTP and personal details to such telecallers,¡±
For anyone who is desperately waiting for one, wouldn¡¯t hesitate to share the details. However, in case you didn¡¯t know, there is no organisation by the name of ¡®Drugs Authority of India¡¯. The only Indian institution that¡¯s responsible for the vaccine rollout is DCGI or Drug Controller General of India.?
Surprisingly, this isn¡¯t the first scam luring netizens to reveal their data in exchange for COVID-19 vaccine. A few weeks ago, the government had warned against malicious messages and emails that offered the recipient to pay and register to get priority in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, which obviously was a fake.?
This goes without saying that whatever happens, the government won¡¯t ask for OTPs of your account on the phone. So anyone asking to do so, refuse immediately and share their number with the cybercrime division of your city or town.