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Safe City urges people to ignore suspicious links, contact 15, FIA cyber wing
Citizens across Punjab have reported receiving fake e-challan SMS messages. In response, the Punjab Safe Cities Authority has issued a warning, urging residents to stay vigilant of such online scams.
According to a Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) spokesperson, Safe City never requests cash, account, or bank details via SMS. And that legitimate e-challan notifications are only sent from the official Punjab government number, 8070.
Scammers attempt to extort money by luring citizens into clicking on suspicious links. The public is strongly advised not to make any payments through suspicious SMS or websites. All PSCA services are completely free for citizens.
The spokesperson further urged them to immediately contact 15 or the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Cyber Wing if they receive any suspicious-sounding messages. E-Challan SMS always includes details such as the time, location, and the relevant violation information.
Strict action would be directed against those attempting to commit fraud under the PSCA name. The authorities have filed a complaint with the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) to identify and take legal action against the individuals responsible for cloning the authority’s official website.
Read: SMS Blasters: scam texts on steroids, and Pakistan may be next
Scam texts were usually something we swiped away without much thought. A fake bank alert here, a courier delivery hoax there — but security researchers warned the game was changing.
According to Wired, cybercriminals were deploying “SMS blasters.” These were portable devices that posed as a cell tower to trick nearby phones into connecting to them, after which they sent out a mass broadcast of fake SMS messages.
Once they hijacked that connection, the devices could unleash up to 100,000 texts an hour, swamping whole neighbourhoods with phishing attempts.
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