MUMBAI: Cyber police on Monday warned people not to fall victim to fake offers that have gone viral on social media for the upcoming Valentine’s Day on February 14.
Most of these are links to discounts in star hotels or other products. Investigators have cautioned that emails containing such links could unleash malware or lead to scammer-run copycat websites. Police said such links should be not be trusted unless the offer is from a company one has done business with earlier and that already has one’s contact information.
Since January 29, over two dozen Twitter users across India have made inquiries with Taj Hotels regarding a ‘Taj Experiences Gift Card’ doing the rounds of social media which offers a seven-day stay at any group hotel for free. Two other similar offers call for completing a questionnaire and sharing links with others to avail of freebies.
Responding to the flurry of queries, Taj Hotels put out a tweet stating: “Hi, a website has been promoting a Valentine’s Day initiative, offering a Taj Experiences Gift Card via WhatsApp. We’d like to inform you that Taj Hotels/IHCL has not offered any such promotion. Request to take note of this and exercise due caution (sic).”
Cyber police say such links could be used to steal user data, including login credentials and credit card numbers. “We have not got any complaint so far, but the fraud offers have gone viral on social media,” DCP (cyber) Rashmi Karandikar told TOI.
Cyber expert Ritesh Bhatia said users need to be extra careful about freebies being offered online especially when it’s close to a festival or special occasion. “In case of Taj, the domain name itself is fake and hence one should also read the URL carefully.. Such links may have malware that get executed on clicking,” said Bhatia.