Pran Pratishtha Event Telecast: Beware Of Fake & Fraudulent Links, Warns MHA

New Delhi: The Pran Pratishtha event at Ayodhya’s Ram Mandir is just hours away.

As millions of people look forward to the consecration ceremony of Ram Lalla idol with great excitement, the Central government has cautioned the public about a WhatsApp scam.

The cyber wing of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued an alert that scammers are targeting devotees through a fraudulent live-streaming link to watch the Pran Pratishtha ceremony.

MHA’s cyber wing has detected several fake links circulating on WhatsApp, promising live coverage of the January 22 event. Lured into opening the links, people get duped by way of mobile data being compromised, or money taken out of bank accounts.

Ayodhya’s control room has been flooded with reports of such malicious links.

According to a News18 report, several users are receiving an APK (android application package) named ‘Ram Janmabhoomi Grihsampark Abhiyan.APK’ and being prompted to install it on their Android smartphones to get VIP access to the pran pratishtha.

MHA has advised people not fall prey to any unsolicited link received through WhatsApp or other social media platforms.

Anyone receiving such links or falling victim should immediately contact the Cyber helpline number 1930.

The Information & Broadcasting ministry earlier advised media outlets and social media platforms to refrain from publishing false and manipulated content related to the Ram Temple event.

The Shri Ram Janmabhoomi Teerth Kshetra also appealed to devotees not to respond to requests or WhatsApp messages from unknown people without verification and avoid making donations or fall fall for Prasad distribution schemes without proper authentication.