Guwahati, April 19 -- The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the Ministry of Home Affairs on Saturday issued a nationwide warning, cautioning the public about the surge in online booking scams targeting religious pilgrims and tourists across India.

According to the official release by the 14C, the fraudsters carried out these fraudulent activities through fake websites, deceptive social media accounts, bogus WhatsApp numbers, and sponsored ads on search engines such as Google.

The 14C stated that the scammers are creating professional-looking but fake platforms offering holiday packages and religious tour packages, helicopter bookings for Kedarnath and Char Dham, hotel and guest house reservations for pilgrims, and onlin...