Health Ministry warns people against fake Co-WIN apps, says official app will be launched soon

BENGALURU: As the Centre plans to roll out the vaccine across India in about 10 days, fake Co-WIN apps - one of the pillars of the Covid-19 imunization programme - have been flooding the PlayStore.

“Some apps named 'CoWIN' apparently created by unscrupulous elements to sound similar to the upcoming official platform of Govt, are on App stores. Don't download or share personal information on these. Dept official platform will be adequately publicised on its launch,” the Union Health Ministry tweeted on Wednesday.

Some apps named "#CoWIN" apparently created by unscrupulous elements to sound similar to upcoming official platform of Government, are on Appstores.

DO NOT download or share personal information on these. #MoHFW Official platform will be adequately publicised on its launch.

— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) January 6, 2021

Last month, the Centre had announced the Co-WIN platform (COVID Vaccine Intelligence Network) that would be crucial in delivering the vaccine to the public. It had said then that it would launch a mobile app where people could register for the vaccine. 

Co-WIN is a repurposed version of the Centre's eVIN (Electronic Vaccine Intelligence Network), and is being developed through a partnership between the United Nations Development Programme and the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. 

Currently in pre-production stage, the official app has not gone live on major app stores.

Once officially launched, the app is likely to be available on Google PlayStore and Apple's App store, and may be available on KaiOS devices.

Several Twitter users say the warning has come too late.

One Twitter user said: "A case of too little, too late. A lot of over enthusiastic people would have already downloaded and installed App in their phones, wanting to be in the early list.

The name of the App should not have been publicised much before the actual launch of it." 

Meanwhile, a senior cybercrime official cautioned that once the vaccine is rolled out, such frauds could go up urged people not to fall prey to such scams.

"There may be many people who may make use of this situation. Recently some senior citizens got phone calls from people seeking their personal details, including bank information, claiming that it is for the vaccine registration," the officer said on condition of anonymity.

The officer said there would be a detailed instructions regarding what details are to be given and which app soon and people should not fall prey for fraudsters.

How to spot the fake

Check the source: In this case, it's the Union Health Ministry. It has already launched Co-WIN as a web-based platform at https://www.cowin.gov.in/login where users can register. 

Check the developer: It should be the Union Health Ministry or UNDP or other government body. Developers of these fake Cow-Win apps include 'cowin-electronics', ‘c-chip’, a Gmail ID. An app by the government will have a government-related email ID. For instance, Aarogya Setu has the National Informatics Centre listed as the developer along with the email ID- support.aarogyasetu@gov.in.

Check number of downloads: A government app is likely to have millions of downloads.