Vehicle owners in Bengaluru are now being cheated by cyber fraudsters in the name of collecting fines for violation of traffic norms. Several cases have come to light recently, where motorists have turned up at the Traffic Management Centre (TMC) complaining that they were receiving notices to pay fines from Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) even after paying them online.
Investigation into these cases has uncovered a new modus operandi employed by cyber frauds, where they send messages to motorists through WhatsApp, informing them of the penalties pending against their vehicles, with a QR code to pay them. Many unsuspecting people have paid the fines, which have been swindled by cyber fraudsters.
M.N. Anucheth, Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Bengaluru appealed to motorists not to fall for such frauds. “BTP sends notices through post only. We do not send WhatsApp messages and there is no option to pay the fines through a QR Code. We request commuters to only trust and use our website https://btp.gov.in and not any other app or website,” he said.
