Overview
- Pune City Traffic Police issued an alert after complaints about fraudulent messages that mimic official challans and pressure recipients to pay fines.
- Authorities say scammers pose as mParivahan or traffic police and share forged challan numbers with links or APKs that can compromise devices.
- Red flags flagged by police include unknown WhatsApp numbers, APKs named “Traffic Fine” or “RTO Challan,” personal UPI handles such as @okaxis/@paytm, and non-.gov.in links.
- Citizens are advised not to click unfamiliar links or install unknown apps, to avoid paying via personal UPI requests, and to verify only on parivahan.gov.in or RTO portals.
- Investigators reported a recent Pune arrest in a related online fraud case, with about Rs 21 lakh temporarily frozen after a complaint to the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal.