Cyber Fraud Alert: Be On Guard, DGP Tells People Of Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Director General of Police Abhay on Thursday requested the people of Odisha to stay alert about cyber fraud during COVID-19 pandemic.

He told mediapersons that noticing people’s desperation to book a slot for vaccination, some fake sites have been inviting people to get their names registered.

“The Government of India has two authorized official apps CoWin and Arogya Setu and one non-official app Umang for vaccine registration. Apart from these three apps, the government has not authorized any other app for registration. If people are getting invitations from apps other than these three for registration, they should ignore those forthwith,” the DGP said.

He further said that a number of fly-by-night operators have entered cyberspace for the supply of COVID-related medicines, supply of oxygen and to provide telemedicine facilities, most of whom are requesting people to make pre-payment for supply of these items.

“As most of these operators lure people into their trap, I request people to crosscheck the authenticity of these operators before going for pre-payment,” he added.

The DGP further urged people to repose their trust in the government-approved COVID medicines. As some agencies are now offering non-approved drugs to the people, people should never get tempted to go for these drugs.

Referring to the action taken by the police for violation of COVID-19 norms, he said that since the first of April, a total of 3,16,682 people have been prosecuted and fine amounting to Rs 9,84,35,823 has been collected from them.

Apart from this, 2180 markets/shops have either been closed or sealed, 26,146 vehicles seized and 831 persons arrested during the enforcement drive. For the illegal liquor trade, a total of 2503 Excise cases have been registered during the period, the DGP pointed out.

To ensure that people stay at home during the pandemic, the DGP said that police have introduced telephone-based and WhatsApp-based grievance redressal system, while the numbers of every police station are uploaded in public domain.

He also requested the people to provide information on black marketing of oxygen cylinders, COVID medicines and other vital drugs in their areas to the nearest police station.